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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d97261a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #62541 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62541) diff --git a/old/62541-8.txt b/old/62541-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 09f6b06..0000000 --- a/old/62541-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13485 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Latin America: Its Rise and Progress, by -F. Garcia Calderon - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Latin America: Its Rise and Progress - -Author: F. Garcia Calderon - -Contributor: Raymond Poincaré - -Translator: Bernard Miall - -Release Date: July 1, 2020 [EBook #62541] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LATIN AMERICA: ITS RISE AND PROGRESS *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - - - - - LATIN AMERICA: - - ITS RISE AND PROGRESS - - - - BY - - F. GARCIA CALDERON - - - WITH A PREFACE BY - RAYMOND POINCARÉ - - _Of the French Academy, President of the French Republic_ - - - TRANSLATED BY BERNARD MIALL - - - - WITH A MAP AND 34 ILLUSTRATIONS - - - - NEW YORK - CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS - 597-599 FIFTH AVENUE - 1915 - - - - -[_All rights reserved_] - - - - -TO - -MONSIEUR ÉMILE BOUTROUX - -(_of the Institute of France_) - -Permit me to offer you this book as a mark of admiration and -gratitude. Often of an evening, in the sober hour of twilight, -hearing you comment upon a page of Plato or a line of Goethe, or -explain to me with unfailing geniality and marvellous lucidity the -troubles of the present day, I have gained a fuller understanding of -the magnificent radiance of the French genius; and always, on leaving -you, I have found pleasure in repeating the thought of Emerson, of -the Emerson whom you love, concerning the utility of great men: "They -make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad -and nutritious." - -F. G. C. - -PARIS, _November_, 1911. - - - - -{9} - -PREFACE - -Here is a book that should be read and digested by every one -interested in the future of the Latin genius. It is written by a -young Peruvian diplomatist. It is full of life and of thought. -History, politics, economic and social science, literature, -philosophy--M. Calderon is familiar with all and touches upon all -with competence and without pedantry. The entire evolution of the -South American republics is comprised in the volume which he now -submits to the European public. - -M. Calderon, a pupil in the school of the best modern historians, -seeks in the past the laws of the future development of the Latin -republics. By means of a scholarly and painstaking analysis, he -shows us, in the South American Creole, a Spaniard of the heroic age, -slowly transformed by miscegenation and the influence of climate; he -sees in him, modified by time and enfeebled by cross-breeding, the -most ancient characteristics of the Iberian race; and he expounds, in -a few pages, the heroic epoch in which the individualism of Spain -broke out into the audacious adventure of the conquistadores and the -savage mysticism of the Inquisitors. - -Then comes the colonial phase, with its disappointments, its -illusions, its abuses and errors; the domination of an oppressive -theocracy, of crushing monopolies; the insolence of privileged -castes, and the indignities of the Peninsular agents. A thirst for -independence gradually possesses the Spanish and Portuguese colonies; -they rebel not merely against the economic and fiscal tyranny which -is crushing them, but also against the rigours of a political and -{10} moral tutelage that leaves them no political liberty. It is a -great and terrible crisis. The movement of liberation fulfils itself -in three phases: firstly, the colonies seek to obtain reforms of the -metropolis, still anxious to remain loyal; then they consider the -question of submitting themselves to European monarchs; and, finally, -the republican idea appears, develops, and is victorious. - -A cycle of pioneers and a cycle of liberators: M. Calderon expounds -this tragic history with a sense of gratitude. He examines with -remarkable insight the fundamental causes of the Revolution--the -excesses of Spanish absolutism; the influence of the Encyclopædia and -the doctrines of 1789; the example of North America; the gold of -England, and the intervention of Canning; the various converging -forces whose fulminating combination created a new world, ill -prepared for social life, fragmentary, and in travail. - -M. Calderon transports us into certain of the portions of this -newborn America. He makes this the occasion of setting before us a -whole gallery of vigorously painted pictures. The field of vision is -occupied successively by Paraguay, with the long dictatorship of its -first _caudillo_, the gloomy, taciturn Francia, with his -authoritative traditions and warlike instincts; Uruguay, with its -intensely national life; Ecuador, bearing the heavy imprint of Garcia -Moreno; Peru, with its tormented history, the powerful but fortunate -dictatorship of Don Ramon Castilla and Manuel Pardo and the epidemic -of speculation, the insanity of the saltpetre and guano booms, the -abuse of loans, warfare and anarchy, and the present effort towards -economic recovery and national stability; Bolivia, with the cold and -crafty ambition of Santa-Cruz; Venezuela, with the gross and material -audacity of Paez, and the empirical despotism of Guzman-Blanco, that -politician without doctrines, avid of power, but a patriot and a -paternal {11} ruler. As M. Calderon says, the history of these -Republics is difficult to distinguish from that of their _caudillos_, -those representative men who personify, at any given moment, the -virtues and vices of their peoples. - -After the magnificent epic of Simon Bolivar, which M. Calderon -recalls with the enthusiasm of gratitude, there commenced a troublous -era of military anarchy. The ambition of the _caudillos_ rent South -America and multiplied her states. But the soul of germinating -nationalities was steeped in the blood of battles, and in the heart -of each people a national conscience was awakened. This was the -troublous epoch of wars and revolutions. - -The South American lived a life of danger, like the Florentine of the -Renaissance or the Frenchman of the Terror; but presently, in the -shadow of military power, wealth was evolved and order established; -property became more secure, and existence more tame and normal; it -was the advent of industry, commercialism, and peace. It seems to me -that M. Calderon rather regrets having been born too late into a -world already too old. What he terms the twilight of the _caudillos_ -fills him with a melancholy nostalgia for the bygone days. The -tyrants, who were as a rule supported by the negroes and half-castes, -helped to destroy racial differences and oligarchies. They have thus -founded democracies which the liberal mind of M. Calderon cannot -regard without goodwill, but which, to his mind, are too far lacking -in the sense of solidarity; they are clumsy, inorganic, incapable of -associating human effort; the rivalry of families and the hatred of -factions absorbs and disturbs them, as it did the mediæval republics, -and under the brilliant polish of French ideals they mask a confused -medley of Europeans and Indians, Asiatics and Africans. - -In these turbulent republics, however, M. Calderon is able clearly to -perceive the reassuring symptoms {12} of a powerful vitality, and he -does not despair of seeing them profit in the near future by the -influence of Latin discipline. From the scholastic erudition of the -colonial epoch, he attentively follows the intellectual evolution of -the South American populations, through the troublous mists of -political ideology, to the hitherto pallid imitations of European -philosophies. Despite the diversity of races intermingling in the -southern continent, he is convinced that the constant and secular -action of the Roman law, a common religion, and French ideals, has -given these young republics a Latin conscience, intangible and -sacred. And he expresses the hope, very wisely and reasonably, that -the peoples of South America will continue in the path of -self-improvement without breaking with the traditions that are -natural to them, and without subjecting themselves to alien -influences. - -He goes on to review the German peril, the North American peril, and -the Japanese peril. He does not fail to realise the extent of the -first named, and he complains of the progress of the commercial -immigration of Germans, especially in the southern provinces of -Brazil; but he considers that the German element, in the very process -of fecundation, will disappear amidst the mass of the nation. He is, -on the other hand, very keenly concerned with the North American -peril. Not that he fails to do justice to the marvellous qualities -of the Anglo-Saxon race; not that he is indifferent to the prestige -of the great northern Republic, or that he is forgetful of its -services to the cause of American autonomy; but he feels the -increasing weight of a tutelage originally beneficent, and anxiously -demands, _Quis custodiet custodem_? He is not oblivious of the fact -that the Monroe doctrine is changing, that it has insensibly passed -from the defensive to intervention, and from intervention to -conquest, and this metamorphosis gives him food for reflection. -Whatever the qualities of Yankee civilisation, it is not Latin -civilisation, and {13} M. Calderon would not have the latter -sacrificed to the former. He implores South America to defend itself -against the danger of a Saxon hegemony, to enrich itself by means of -European influences, to encourage French and Italian immigration, and -to purify its races by an influx of new blood. - -In the Japanese, as in the German, M. Calderon sees an indefatigable -emissary of the Imperialist idea. According to him, no antagonism is -more irreducible than that of America and Japan. Japanese artisans -are invading the shipyards and foundries of Chili, Peru, and Brazil. -They form a refractory element which will never be assimilated. He -foresees that the supremacy of Japan may shortly extend over the -entire Pacific, and that the whole of America will find it no trivial -task to oppose this formidable power. From beginning to end of this -book we hear the rallying-cry of the Latin republics. I believe that -at heart M. Calderon regrets the excessive division of the states of -South America. But the problem of unity, often brought to the fore -in congresses and conferences, appears to him insoluble, and in -default of this he would be content with intellectual alliances, with -economic or fiscal unions, which would still permit the various -republics to draw nearer to one another, to know one another better, -and in time and on occasion to associate their defensive efforts. - -I do not feel competent to criticise the advice which M. Calderon -offers his compatriots. - -In particular I cannot speak of his opinions concerning the -presidential system in the republics of South America, and their -constitutional methods, which differ so sensibly from our French -parliamentary methods. - -I would only remark that M. Calderon is right in warning the American -states against a plague of which we in France know something, but -which in young societies, deficient in established traditions, and -without ancient and well-tried organisations, may {14} well be -exceptionally dangerous--the invasion of a parasitical bureaucracy, -which would increasingly develop itself at the expense of the healthy -portions of the nation, and which would gradually infect the soundest -and most vital tissues. - -Finally, without indiscretion, I may perhaps express my approval of -M. Calderon's stern requisition against the policy of excessive -loans. It is by running into debt over unlicensed extravagances that -certain of the South American republics have gained in Europe the -reputation of being financially unsound or dishonest, and have -thereby, by mere force of proximity, injured the repute of wiser and -more economical states. - -Since the republics of South America have need of European money, -they would be greatly at fault did they alienate it by excessive or -reckless budgets. - -Never, I believe, shall we see the dismal hour which M. Calderon's -imagination hears already striking; when, expelled by Slavs and -Teutons, the Latins of the old world will be forced to take refuge on -the shores of the blue sea that bore their floating cradle; and a -Frenchman may be forgiven for refusing to believe that the capital of -classic culture will ever pass from Paris to Buenos-Ayres, as it has -passed from Rome to Paris. But without lingering over such alarming -anticipations as these we may delight our eyes with brighter and more -immediate prospects. May South America, while remaining herself, -while cultivating, as M. Calderon advises her to cultivate, the -American ideal, grow ever more and more hospitable to the literature, -the arts, the commerce, and the capital of France. Thereby the great -Latin family can only gain in material prosperity and moral authority. - - RAYMOND POINCARÉ - (_of the French Academy_). - -(M. Poincaré wrote this Preface in December, 1911, before he became -President of Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs.) - - - - -{15} - -FOREWORD - -There are two Americas. In the north, the "Outre-Mer" of Bourget, is -a powerful industrial republic, a vast country of rude energies, of -the "strenuous life." In the south are twenty leisurely states of -unequal civilisation, troubled by anarchy and the colour problem. -The prestige of the United States, their imperialism, and their -wealth, have cast a shade over the less orderly Latin republics of -the south. The title of America seems to be applied solely to the -great imperial democracy of the north. - -Yet among these American nations are wealthy peoples whose domestic -organisation has been greatly improved, such as the Argentine, -Brazil, Chili, Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay. They must not be -confounded with the republics of Central America, with Hayti or -Paraguay. French writers and politicians, such as M. Anatole France, -M. Clemenceau, and M. Jaurès, who have visited the Argentine, Brazil, -and Uruguay, have remarked there not only an established Latin -culture, but noble efforts in the direction of augmenting the -internal peace of the nations, and extraordinary riches. They are -agreed in declaring that these young countries possess economic -forces and an optimism which will yield them a brilliant future. - -Several of these states have lately celebrated their first centenary. -Their independence was won during the first decade of the nineteenth -century. The year {16} 1810 was the beginning of a new epoch, during -which autonomous republics were formed, not without tragedy, upon the -remnants of the Spanish power. - -The time has come, it would seem, to study these peoples, together -with their evolution and progress, unless we are willing to take it -as proved that the United States of North America are the sole focus -of Transatlantic civilisation and energy. - -We propose to draw up the balance-sheet of these South American -republics. This is the object of this book. We must seek in the -history of these states the reason of their inferiority and the data -which relate to their future. - -First of all we must study the conquering race which discovered and -colonised America. We must analyse the Spanish and Portuguese -genius, the Iberian genius, half European, half African. After the -conquest new societies sprang up under the stern domination of Spain -and Portugal. They were over-seas theocracies, jealously guarded -from all alien trade. Unlike Saxon America, where the Dutch and -English immigrants held themselves sternly apart from the Indians, -pursuing them and forcing them westward, in South America conquerors -and conquered intermingled. The half-castes became the masters by -force of numbers, conceiving a thirst for power and a hatred of the -proud and overbearing Spaniards and Portuguese. War broke out -between the Iberians and the Americans; it was a civil war. Then new -states were rapidly formed, without traditions of government or -established social classification. - -These states were dominated by military chieftains, by _caudillos_. -From barbarism and periodic anarchy proceeded the Dictators. We -shall be able to study some of the representative personalities of -this period, and to disentangle from the monotonous development of -events the history of certain nations, such as {17} Brazil, in which -the social medley has been dominated by the principle of authority. -In the Argentine, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Chili we shall perceive a -new industrial order, by means of which political life grows less -disturbed and the _caudillos_ lose their authority (Books I. and II.). - -The study of intellectual evolution shows us how great is the power -of ideology in these rising democracies. They imitate the French -Revolution; they submit themselves to the influence of the ideas of -Rousseau and the Romantics, and of the doctrines of the -individualists. America, Spanish and Portuguese by origin, is -becoming French by culture (Book III.). - -Here we proceed to the study of the part played by the Latin spirit -in the formation of these peoples, and the perils which threaten -them, whether these proceed from the United States, from Germany, or -from Japan, and to consider the faults and the qualities of this -spirit (Book IV.). Then follows an analysis of the problems and the -future of Latin America (Book V.). - -The conclusion to be drawn from this examination is that the -political life of the Ibero-American peoples is as yet chaotic, but -that some of them have already cast off the fetters of an unfortunate -heredity. Across the ocean liberty and democracy are steadily -becoming realities. In the battles of the future the support of -America will be valued by the great peoples of the Mediterranean who -are struggling for the supremacy of the Latin race. - - - - -{19} - -CONTENTS - - -PREFACE - -FOREWORD - -BOOK I - -CHAPTER I - -THE CONQUERING RACE - -Its psychological characteristics--Individualism and its aspects--The -sentiment of equality--African fanaticism. - - -CHAPTER II - -THE COLONIES OVERSEA - -The conquerors--The conquered races--The influence of religion in the -new societies--Colonial life. - - -CHAPTER III - -THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE - -I. Economic and political aspects of the struggles--Monarchy and the -Republic--The leaders: Miranda, Belgrano, Francia, Iturbide, King -Pedro I., Artigas, San Martin, Bolivar--Bolivar the Liberator: his -ideas and his deeds. - -II. Revolutionary ideology--Influence of Rousseau--The rights of -man--The example of the United States--English ideas in the -constitutional projects of Miranda and Bolivar--European action: -Canning--Nationalism versus Americanism. - -{20} - -CHAPTER IV - -MILITARY ANARCHY AND THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD - -Anarchy and dictatorship--The civil wars: their -significance--Characteristics of the industrial period. - - - -BOOK II - -CHAPTER I - -VENEZUELA: PAEZ--GUZMAN-BLANCO - -The moral authority of Paez--The Monagas--The tyranny of -Guzman-Blanco--Material progress. - - -CHAPTER II - -PERU: GENERAL CASTILLA--MANUEL PARDO--PIEROLA - -The political work of General Castilla--Domestic peace--The deposits -of guano and saltpetre--Manuel Pardo, founder of the anti-military -party--The last _caudillo_--Pierola: his reforms. - - -CHAPTER III - -BOLIVIA: SANTA-CRUZ - -Santa-Cruz and the Confederation of Peru and Bolivia--The tyrants -Belzu, Molgarejo--The last _caudillos_: Pando, Montes. - - -CHAPTER IV - -URUGUAY: LAVALLEJA--RIVERA--THE NEW _CAUDILLOS_ - -The factions: Reds and Whites--The leaders: Artigas, Lavalleja, -Rivera--The modern period. - - -CHAPTER V - -THE ARGENTINE: RIVADAVIA--QUIROGA--ROSAS - -Anarchy in 1820--The _caudillos_: their part in the formation of -nationality--A Girondist, Rivadavia--The despotism of Rosas--Its -duration and its essential aspects. - - -{21} - -BOOK III - -CHAPTER I - -MEXICO: THE TWO EMPIRES--THE DICTATORS - -The Emperor Iturbide--The conflicts between Federals and -Unitarians--The Reformation--The foreign Emperor--The dictatorship of -Porfirio Diaz--Material progress and servitude--The Yankee influence. - - -CHAPTER II - -CHILI: A REPUBLIC OF THE ANGLO-SAXON TYPE - -Portales and the oligarchy--The ten-years' Presidency--Montt and his -influence--Balmaceda the reformer. - - -CHAPTER III - -BRAZIL: THE EMPIRE--THE REPUBLIC - -The influence of the Imperial _régime_--A transatlantic Marcus -Aurelius--Dom Pedro II.--The Federal Republic. - - -CHAPTER IV - -PARAGUAY: PERPETUAL DICTATORSHIP - -Dr. Francia--The opinion of Carlyle--The two Lopez--Tyranny and the -military spirit in Paraguay. - - - -BOOK IV - -CHAPTER I - -COLOMBIA - -Conservatives and Radicals--General Mosquera: his influence--A -statesman: Raphael Nuñez, his doctrines political. - -{22} - -CHAPTER II - -ECUADOR - -Religious conflicts--General Flores and his political labours--Garcia -Moreno--The Republic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. - - -CHAPTER III - -THE ANARCHY OF THE TROPICS--CENTRAL AMERICA--HAYTI--SAN-DOMINGO - -Tyrannies and revolutions--The action of climate and miscegenation--A -republic of negroes: Hayti. - - - -BOOK V - -CHAPTER I - -POLITICAL IDEOLOGY - -Conservatives and Liberals -- Lastarria -- Bilbao -- Echeverria -- -Montalvo -- Vigil -- The Revolution of 1848 and its influence in -America--English ideas: Bello, Alberdi--The educationists. - - -CHAPTER II - -THE LITERATURE OF THE YOUNG DEMOCRACIES - -Spanish classicism and French romanticism--Their influence in -America--Modernism--The work of Ruben Dario--The novel--The _conte_ -or short story. - - -CHAPTER III - -THE EVOLUTION OF PHILOSOPHY - -Bello--Hostos--The influence of England--Positivism--The influence of -Spencer and Fouillée---The sociologists - - -{23} - -BOOK VI - -CHAPTER I - -ARE THE IBERO-AMERICANS OF LATIN RACE? - -Spanish and Portuguese heredity--Latin culture--The influence of the -Roman laws, of Catholicism, and of French thought--The Latin spirit -in America: its qualities and defects. - - -CHAPTER II - -THE GERMAN PERIL - -German Imperialism and the Monroe doctrine--Das Deutschtum and -Southern Brazil--What the Brazilians think about it. - - -CHAPTER III - -THE NORTH AMERICAN PERIL - -The policy of the United States--The Monroe doctrine: its various -aspects--Greatness and decadence of the United States--The two -Americas, Latin and Anglo-Saxon. - - -CHAPTER IV - -A POLITICAL EXPERIMENT: CUBA - -The work of Spain--The North-American reforms--The future. - - -CHAPTER V - -THE JAPANESE PERIL - -The ambitions of the Mikado--The Shin Nippon in Western -America--Pacific invasion--Japanese and Americans. - - -{24} - -BOOK VII - -CHAPTER I - -THE PROBLEM OF UNITY - -The foundations of unity: religion, language, and similarity of -development--Neither Europe, nor Asia, nor Africa presents this moral -unity in the same degree as Latin America--The future groupings of -the peoples: Central America, the Confederation of the Antilles, -Greater Colombia, the Confederation of the Pacific, and the -Confederation of La Plata--Political and economical aspects of these -unions--The last attempts at federation in Central America--The -Bolivian Congress--The A.B.C.--the union of the Argentine, Brazil, -and Chili. - - -CHAPTER II - -THE PROBLEM OF RACE - -The gravity of the problem--The three races, European, Indian, and -negro--Their characteristics--The mestizos and mulattos--The -conditions of miscegenation according to M. Gustave Le -Bon--Regression to the primitive type. - - -CHAPTER III - -THE POLITICAL PROBLEM - -The _caudillos_: their action--Revolutions--Divorce between written -Constitutions and political life--The future parties--The bureaucracy. - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM - -Loans--Budgets--Paper money--The formation of national capital. - - -CONCLUSION - -AMERICA AND THE FUTURE OF THE LATIN PEOPLES - -The Panama Canal and the two Americas--The future conflicts between -Slavs, Germans, Anglo-Saxons, and Latins--The role of Latin America. - - -INDEX - - - - -{25} - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - -HIDALGO - -GABINO BARREDA - -GENERAL JOSÉ ANTONIO PAEZ - -GENERAL FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA (VENEZUELA) - -SAN MARTIN - -BOLIVAR IN 1810 - -BOLIVAR - -GENERAL JUAN JOSÉ FLORES - -ARTIGAS - -GENERAL JOSÉ TADEO MONAGAS - -GENERAL ANDRES SANTA CRUZ - -MANUEL PARDO - -DON NICOLAS DE PIEROLA - -DON FRANCISCO GARCIA CALDERON - -OPENING OF CONGRESS, LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - -COLONEL ISMAEL MONTES - -JUAN ANTONIO LAVALLEJA - -RIVADAVIA - -{26} - -ROSAS, THE ARGENTINE TYRANT - -PASEO DE LA REFORMA, CITY OF MEXICO, ON INDEPENDENCE DAY - -BENITO JUAREZ - -JOSÉ IVES LIMANTOUR - -GENERAL PORFIRIO DIAZ - -THE CATHEDRAL, SANTIAGO, CHILE - -JOSÉ MANUEL BALMACEDA - -GENERAL MOSQUERA - -CLÉMENTE PALMA - -RICARDO PALMER - -RUFINO BLANCO FOMBONA (VENEZUELA) - -MANUEL UGARTE (ARGENTINA) - -RICARDO ROJAS (ARGENTINA) - -GOMEZ CARRILLO - -JOSÉ ENRIQUE RODÓ (URUGUAY) - -ALCIDES ARGUEDAS (BOLIVIA) - -MAP - -[Transcriber's note: The above map (of South America) was omitted -from this ebook, being too large (approximately 18"x24") and fragile -to scan.] - - - - -{27} - -BOOK I - -_THE FORMATION OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLES_ - -When the Iberians arrived in America they found either tribes or -peoples of semi-civilised inhabitants. These natives differed from -the Spanish and Portuguese invaders to such a degree that their -conquest was a true creation of new societies on the ruins of ancient -barbarian states. Before analysing the various aspects of American -history we must therefore know something of the genius of the -conquering race. - -Conquerors and vanquished intermingled; territorial possession -modified the spirit of the conquerors; and the colonies began to -dream of conquering their independence. After twenty years of -warfare the republic became the political type of these societies, -which were exhausted by Spanish tyranny. Two periods, one of -military anarchy, the other of domestic order, wealth, and -industrialism, succeeded in the new States. - - - - -{28} - -[Illustration: HIDALGO. A priest who prepared for the independence -of Mexico from the Spanish power. To face p. 29.] - - - - -{29} - -LATIN AMERICA - - -CHAPTER I - -THE CONQUERING RACE - -Its psychological characteristics--Individualism and its aspects--The -sentiment of equality.--African fanaticism. - - -Travellers and psychologists find in modern Greece the craft of -Ulysses, the rhetorical ability of the Athenian sophists, and the -anarchy of the brilliant democracies once grouped about the blue -Mediterranean. Though its purity has been tainted by the onset of -Africa and the Turks, the old Hellenic spirit survives in the race. -A similar vitality is to be observed in America. The transatlantic -Creole is a Spaniard of the heroic period, enervated by miscegenation -and climate. It is impossible to understand or explain his character -unless we take into account the genius of Spain. The wars of -independence gave the Latin New World political liberty, and a -deceptive novelty of forms and institutions, but beneath these the -spirit of race survives: the Republic reproduces the essential traits -of the colonial empire. In the cities, despite the invasion of -cosmopolitanism, the old life persists, silent and monotonous, -flowing past the ancient landmarks. The same little anxieties -trouble mankind, which no longer has the haughty moral rigidity of -the old hidalgos. Belief, conversation, intolerance--all retain the -{30} imprint of the narrow mould imposed upon them by three centuries -of the proudly exclusive spirit of Spain. To study the political and -religious history of the last century in the American democracies is -to add a chapter to the history of Iberian evolution. Beyond the -ocean and the fabled columns which were overthrown by the pikes of -the conquistadors is another Spain, tropical, and divided against -itself, in which the grace of Andalusia has vanquished the austerity -of Castile.[1] - -If the troublous existence of the metropolitan state could be reduced -to the simplicity of a formula, that formula would also explain the -troublous history of a score of American republics, just as the deep -root will reveal the germ of the vicious development of a tropical -tree. But nothing would be more impossible than to reduce to an -abstract and enforced unity the disturbed evolution of Spain, full as -it is of anarchy and bloodshed. The Peninsula, divided into hostile -regions, the refuge of inimical races, presents in its past such -contradictions as defy synthesis. Amid this theocratic people the -development of municipal liberties was premature. While feudality -still imposed its authority upon the rest of Europe, Spain saw the -rise of the free cities. Beside the eternal Quixotism which -renounces the vulgar kingdom of the useful in order to give itself -only to the ideal the wise refrains of the people express a dense, -prosaic, positive realism. The Catholic nation _par excellence_ -furnished the Duke of Alba with the troops that were to conquer Rome. -After long years of absolute monarchy the old democratic spirit was -reborn in the Peninsular _juntas_ which opposed the {31} French -invasion. From Cantabria to Cadiz we discover, beneath the unity of -Castile, a splendid variety of provincial types. The Asturian -hardness contrasts with the rhythm of Andalusia, the impetuosity of -Estremadura with the dryness of Catalonia, the tenacity of the -Basques with the proud idleness of the Castilian. - -From this territorial complexity arises a turbulent life: the secular -struggle in favour of national unity, the generous epic of the -Catholic crusade against Islam, and the gloomy pursuit of religious -unity by means of inquisitorial holocausts. European history is -transformed south of the Pyrenees. Feudality is arrested; the -crusade against the infidel lasts eight centuries; religion and -empire are established in magnificence like that of the Oriental -theocracies. In the wealth of this national development persist the -racial characteristics which we wish to determine: individualism, -democracy, the local spirit so inimical to great unities, and the -African fanaticism which is satisfied only with excessive sensations -and extreme solutions--in short, the heritage of a grave and heroic -race, in a state of perpetual moral tension, proud in the face of God -and king and fate. - -Individualism is the fundamental note of the Spanish psychology. An -Iberian characteristic, it has all the force of an imperious atavism. -It exalts any form of action, of self-affirmation; it inspires an -unreasonable confidence in self and the powers of self; it tends to -develop human energy, to preserve the national independence from -external pressure, to defend it against the rigour of the law, the -moral imperative, and the rigidity of duty; and it creates in exalted -spirits an ardent desire of domination. - -Strabo observed among the primitive Iberians, who were divided into -hostile tribes, an immense pride, inimical to union and discipline. -In his life and {32} attitude the Spaniard reveals all the outward -and inward aspects of individualism. The austerity and arrogance -revealed by the very folds of the hidalgo's mantle, by his majestic -port, his sonorous speech, and his lordly gesture, the personal -valour which turns history into an epic, the audacity, the love of -adventure, and the isolation, are forms of personal exaltation. "The -Spaniards, in their simplicity," says the squire Marcos de Obregon, -"persuade themselves that they are the absolute masters of all." - -Individualism explains the analogies between Iberian and English -history: the civilisation of the Peninsula recalls, in some of its -characteristics, that of the Anglo-Saxons. In both we find the -premature affirmation of liberty, an excessive pride, and a long -struggle against invasions. From this arises an aggressive -imperialism: commercial in the north, religious in the south. In -England the climate and the territory gave individualism a -utilitarian bent; in Spain the conflict with Islam gave it a warlike -tendency. Idealism, the inward life, and imaginative exaltation -created the Puritans in England; in Spain the mystics and the -inquisitors. But in the conquest of hostile circumstances the Saxon -acquires a sense of realism; while the Iberian, under a fiery sun, -becomes in Spain as in America a hunter of chimeras. A symbol will -express the resemblance between the two histories: Ariel and Caliban, -Don Quixote and Sancho Panza represent the same eternal dualism of -idealism and realism. Caliban has given England a vast empire; the -knight-errant has returned to his native La Mancha, exhausted by his -barren adventure. - -Spanish evolution, and the moral and religious aspects of Peninsular -life, are to be explained by this perpetual exaltation of the -individual. Stoicism is the moral aspect of individualism. It -preaches virility (_esto vir._ says Seneca): it develops the human -{33} will as opposed to Destiny; it is a gospel of austerity in the -face of suffering, of silent heroism in the face of death. Seneca is -for Roman Spain the teacher of energy; from his teaching proceeds -that tenacious faith in character which touches Peninsular history -with a grave virility. Christianity, which proclaims human dignity, -becomes the national religion south of the Pyrenees. According to -the Stoics, all men are equal before Destiny; according to Christ, -they are equal before God; and of these two doctrines a formidable -pride is born. Finally, in mysticism, the original expression of the -religious genius of Spain, there is nothing to recall the pantheism -of the Orient, nor the annihilation of man before the Absolute. The -Peninsular mystics exalt their individuality, draw strength from the -visit of their Friend, become divine through ecstasy, and aspire with -the ardour of conquerors to the possession of God. To the German -Reformation, which preached predestination, the theologians of Spain -opposed free human choice, the efficacy of action, and the dignity -and merit of effort. The Spanish religion was by no means satisfied -with speculation; it made for action and preached energy. The -struggles of Spain have a religious significance; the heroes are -mystics and the mystics "knights of the Divine order." Ignatius -Loyola and Saint Teresa dream of heroic undertakings and read the -romances of chivalry. Mysticism inspires the warriors; faith -purifies the covetousness of the conquerors. - -Wilful and mystical, the Spanish temperament is active, and expresses -itself externally in conflict; it manifests itself in comedy and -tragedy. The Peninsular genius is dramatic. Adventure, movement, -and the shock of passions are developed in an ample theatre which -expresses all the aspects of aggravated individualism. The struggle -is not only for independence, but for fame, to preserve the integrity -of honour in the general eye. Jealous and {34} revengeful, this -preoccupation in respect of honour, which is profoundly Spanish, -inspires innumerable tragedies. Antagonisms, ruptures, theses, and -antitheses abound in Iberian history; the positivism of Sancho Panza, -the idealism of Don Quixote; obstinacy and idleness; sloth and -violence; parasitism and adventure; gloom and solemnity such as we -find in the paintings of Zurbaran and Ribera, together with the -frivolity of harmonious dance and festival and light-headed madness -in the hot sunlight; faith in the will and acceptation of destiny; -the ardour of mystics and conquerors and the cynicism of rogues and -beggars; heroic disinterestedness and passionate covetousness: these -are the irreducible contradictions of the Spanish mind, which explain -the long conflict, the intensity of the internal drama. On the stage -we find the reflection of these conflicts, these indurated wills; -subtle passions, grandiose pride, lofty character; tragedies with a -touch of farce and comedies with a mystic background. The literature -of Chivalry--the immense crop of romances, the rude primitive poetry, -the _Cid_, the _Children of Lara_--is a commentary upon individualism -and action. The great literary types--the hero, the adventurer, the -mystic, the noble chieftain, the knight, the lover--are exalted -individualities. The _picaro_ himself belongs to this hardy family; -he is proud as any knight, and a goodly number of knights are -_picaresque_. Subtle and sceptical, the _picaro_ employs both -cunning and heroism in the daily struggle for life. Of "Gongorism," -a school of Spanish literature, Martinez-Ruiz has written that it is -the expression of movement in language, a dynamic poetry for men of -action. Dramas and romances of energy, violent epics, with nothing -of the antique serenity: these form the true literature of Spain. - -In art and philosophy and literature there are {35} really no -schools, but writers, philosophers, and painters; such as El Greco, -who left no imitators; solitary individuals such as Gratian and -Quevedo. But in Spain we see the triumph of those military and -political organisations in which the individual finds the greatest -freedom: the people, the tribe, the guerilla band, the battalion. -The cult of rebellious and exuberant energy is general. In the -relations of king and subject the same Peninsular individualism -appears. - - "For besar mano de rey - No me tengo por honrado, - Porque la besó mi padre - Me tengo por afrentado." - -says a Spanish rhyme. Obedience to the king is conditional; it is -based upon the monarch's respect for the supreme order of justice, -and his submission to a tacit or explicit contract between king and -people. Charters, traditions, and usages limit the absolutism of the -monarch. In the Cortes of Orcana in 1469 it is declared that the -king is the "mercenary" of the people, who pay him a "salary."[2] -All Spanish obedience is steeped in this kind of pride; the nobles of -Aragon feel themselves individually the equals of the king, and -collectively his superior. The cities, federated into _hermandades_ -or unions, treat with the monarch; they form a State within the -State; they oppose the Government and force it to recognise their -privileges. In 1226 the cities of Aragon and Catalonia demand of -Jaime II. the grant of a charter of popular rights. Insurrections -are frequent, and are incarnated in a hero of the rude national epic: -the _Cid_. Mariana, a historian, authorises any violence directed -against royal tyranny. - -{36} - -This individualism upholds a strict justice against the narrowness of -the laws and the Byzantine debates of lawyers; against sentences, -penalties, and tribunals. Poems and proverbs express this continual -clash between the juridic ideal and the law; the Peninsular -conscience condemns the partial and precarious justice of the codes. -Joaquin Costa writes: "Of all the epics known to me--whether national -or racial--the Spanish has done most to elevate the principle of -justice, and has rendered the cult of justice most fervent." Austere -and inviolable, the law represents a category of eternal relations, -beside which all individualities are insignificant, even that of the -king, and all institutions fragile, even the Church. - -Stoical because it believed in pure justice; nourished by rude -heroisms, inward visions, romances, and legends; exalted by mystic -dialogues, and hardened by centuries of religious wars; the Spanish -spirit, full of enthusiasm, entered upon the Renaissance, that -sixteenth century which was to reveal the new continents across the -ocean, the laws of Nature behind her mystery, and to create imperious -personalities which opposed themselves to Fate. Then Spanish -individualism broke out into mysticism, audacity, and adventure: it -was the epoch of _conquistadors_, of politicians, of inquisitors, of -Jimenez and Pizarro, Torquemada, Loyola, and Cortez. Spain broke -through the circle of the Old World, fought in defence of Christian -civilisation at Lepanto, and of Catholicism in Germany and Flanders; -coveted the Mediterranean countries; colonised an immense and unknown -continent; threatened Europe with the religious imperialism of -Charles V. and Philip II., and, thanks to the legions of the Duke of -Alba, imposed her will on the Pope. Her policy had the old Roman -majesty and force; literature had found its "golden age"; philosophy -proposed the vast harmonious solutions of Fox {37} Morcillo, and laid -down the bases of natural and national law by the pens of Francisco -de Vitoria and Domingo de Soto. It was a splendid prodigality of -energy, creation, conquest, and heroism--the last stage of a history -of violent stoicism, which announced a long and majestic decadence. - -Distrustful of hierarchies, Spanish individualism created social and -democratic forms. Traditions, doctrines, customs, and laws denoted -an exact sense of human equality. "Monachal democracy," said -Menendez-Pelayo, in speaking of Spain, because the levelling of all -classes offered certain conventual characteristics, and because there -was a Christian basis to the fervour of the equalitarians; a -"picaresque" democracy, wrote Salillas, alluding to the equality of -the knight and the _picaro_, to the double phenomenon of a proud -people making pretensions to nobility and a careless aristocracy -continually drifting into democracy by reason of the lack of middle -classes and the traditional idleness of the hidalgo. An anarchical -democracy, inimical to hierarchy, proud and undisciplined, according -to the analysis of Unamuno, in his profound work, _En torno al -Casticismo_; a democratic Cæsarism, thought Oliveira Martins, for the -absolutism of the monarch was not feudal royalty, but rather a -principality of the Roman type. The king presided over a democracy -of knights, mystics, adventurers, and rogues. This spirit of -equality may be observed even in the formation of the Spanish -aristocracy; the Gothic and hereditary nobility is foreign to the -evolution of the Peninsular. The national aristocracy is to be found -in the bosom of the Church; it is elective, subject to the current -popular vicissitudes, to such a degree that the ecclesiastical -councils are more truly national than the military councils and -assemblies. Servitude is less rude in mediæval Spain than in the -rest of Europe; the cultivator progresses, but disappears {38} from -the other side of the Pyrenees before the invasion of feudalism, and -the hired or leasehold cultivator is almost free. There are -tributary nobles: between the democracy and the nobility there are no -irreducible divisions. - -This equalitarian development is especially notable in the political -world. In Spain feudalism is not a national institution, and the -spirit of Gothic kingship becomes transformed under Iberian -influences. In Leon and Castile the nobility are less powerful than -in France or other parts of Spain, Catalonia, Navarre, and Aragon.[3] -The social classes are not superimposed in rigorous order; cities -acquire franchises, and "popular seigneuries" are formed. - -The monarchy, too, undergoes this process of levelling or -democratisation. The Emperor aims at equilibrium in equality; he -destroys the excessive privileges of the aristocracy and the people; -in the political conflict he leans to one side or the other -alternately. The popular tongue consecrates the equality of the -social classes: "In a hundred years a king becomes a thrall; in a -hundred and six a thrall becomes a king." "All are equal to the -king, except in wealth." - -The Spanish commune lasts, because it is the centre of this great -democracy. From the beginnings of Peninsular history we see the -cities struggling for their independence. They reproduce the -_djemaa_ of the Atlas, beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, amid the -Berbers, the parents of the Iberians; the _djemaa_ is the African -progenitor of the Spanish commune; both make an equal distribution of -goods, and endeavour to avoid poverty. The _djemaa_, or -municipality, or commune, isolated and autonomous, constitutes the -political unit: the State is a confederation of free cities. The -Spanish towns defend their {39} liberties against every form of -artificial unity, whether Phoenician, Greek, or Roman. Rome reigns -for seven hundred years; but because she partially recognises the -autonomy of the municipalities, the Spanish democracy; she increases -civil rights, founds small republics, which elect their own -magistrates, administer the communal finances, and discuss the -payment of imposts and the distribution of lands in their ward. Thus -Spanish individualism is satisfied. Rome, absorbing and centralising -under the Cæsars, destroys local liberty; but a deep-seated current -re-establishes the autonomy of the peoples when the Roman power -decays. Assemblies of free citizens govern the cities; the Visigoth -monarchy, at the suggestion of the national Church, respects the -municipal organisation. Thus a hybrid system springs up, feudal in -the Germanic character of the predominant aristocracy, democratic by -virtue of the Councils, the Church, and the tenacious power of the -cities. In the struggle against the Moors the kings compound with -the proud, free cities, conceding charters and municipal privileges -in exchange for a tribute of gold or flesh and blood. - -Liberty and democracy are of more ancient date in Spain than in -England. The charter of Leon, dated 1020, anterior to the great -English charter, grants the municipalities an administrative and -judicial jurisdiction; it recognises the hereditary rights of the -serf in the soil which he tills, and his full liberty to change his -seigneur; herein we see a modified feudalism. The first charters of -Castile recognised the rights of the cities. In the councils of -Burgos in 1169 and of Leon in 1188 the delegates of the -municipalities figured; even in the Cortes of Aragon, where the -Germanic tradition was predominant, representatives of the cities -were admitted as early as the twelfth century. The overlord, who -extended his protectorate over a city, did not despoil {40} it of its -former sovereignty; the _Behetrias_ were cities or groups of cities -which chose as their guardian a baron or warrior chief, without -losing anything of their autonomy. The cities, proud of their -privileges, united with the royal power in struggling against the -nobility; thirty-four of them, in 1295, constituted the _Hermandad_ -(brotherhood, guild) of Castile, which eventually numbered as many as -a hundred cities. In ancient Spain we are always discovering -something of the nature of a contract, a concert of free wills, a -perpetual _concordat_ between governors and governed. From the -Iberian tribe to the Roman city, from the city with its franchises to -the villages grouped in _hermandades_, and from these to the popular -_juntas_ which defend Spain against the power of France and organise -an epic resistance, there is an obvious historical continuity. Local -patriotism is inimical to ambitious constructive policies. Many -peoples invade the Peninsula--Semites, Berbers, Arabs, Copts, -Touaregs, Syrians, Kelts, Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, -Franks, Suabians, Vandals, Goths: they become superimposed like -geological strata, draw apart from one another in the mountainous -parts of Spain, and convert the quarrels of provinces and the -rivalries of cities into regional conflicts and racial antagonisms. - -In the clash of Spanish individualities, in the rude assertion of -municipal prerogatives, in the democratic developments which are so -hostile to any hierarchy, an African or Semitic patriotism is -revealed, which converts history into a bloody tragedy. In the arid -Castilian plain, confined by its glaring horizons, under its burning -sun, we see the spectacle of a proud people defending absolute -principles with aggressive faith. Religion is dry and fiery as the -desert. Señor de Unamuno, writing of Spain,[4] calls her "a nation -fanatical rather than superstitious, to {41} whom the Semitic -monotheism is better adapted than the Aryan polytheism." Jews and -Moors are expelled from the Peninsula in the name of simple and rigid -ideals, by an intolerance at once religious and political. Thus the -spiritual integrity of Spain is achieved; but industry decays, -poverty increases, decadence appears, and in a Spain drained of its -blood by _autodafés_ and emigrations a solitary cross is raised, the -symbol of an African Christianity, to which the love of mankind is a -stranger. - -Spain is African, even from the prehistoric ages. The Iberian is -like the men of the Atlas; like them, he is brown and -dolicocephalous. The Kabyle _douar_ and the Spanish village present -remarkable analogies. An early geological change separates, by a -narrow strait, two similar countries; two successive invasions spread -an infusion of African blood throughout the Peninsula. Phoenicians -and Carthaginians found colonies in maritime Spain; in 711 seven -thousand Berbers establish themselves in the south; and the invasion -of the Almohades in 1145 still further unites Iberians and Africans. -During the long centuries of conflict between Christians and Arabs -the two races intermingle under the cultivated tolerance of the -Khalifs. The Gothic kings seek the aid of Arab chieftains in their -quarrels; the Cid is a condottiere who fights alternately in the -Mussulman and Christian armies, serving, with his troop of heroes, -under the highest bidder. The Spanish monarchs in turn intervene in -the quarrels of the Khalifs, and Alfonso VI., in 1185, allies himself -with the Moorish king of Seville in order to conquer Toledo. The -Arabs study under the masters of the Spanish capitals, while the -Spaniards study Arabic, and are initiated into Oriental science. The -language still preserves traces of the commerce between the two -races. The Arabs, sceptical and refined, overlords already enervated -by the grace {42} and luxury of Andalusia, rule without fanaticism; -they leave the vanquished their religion and their usages, their -laws, authorities, and judges; they free such Christian slaves as are -converted to Islam. The Mozarabs, Christians who live in the -Mussulman States, without renouncing their faith and customs, pave -the way for the fusion of the hostile races. In spite of a continual -warfare, under the indifferent and alien rule of the Arab both -victors and vanquished become subject, as did the first Gothic kings, -to the national influence. It seems as though the gradual action of -a common life were about to reconstitute the primitive type of man -who once peopled Iberia from the Pyrenees to the Atlas. - -The originality of Spain, contrasting, in her development, with the -Indo-European nations, comes from Africa, from the atavism of the -Iberians, from the long domination of the Moors, and from the Semitic -Orient. - -The anarchy of the tribe persists; the clergy are all-powerful, as -are the African marabouts. To the feudal nobility and the European -parliament the Peninsula opposes the Councils; to the struggles -between Pope and Emperor, the Oriental fusion of religion and the -monarchy, the Inquisition, and the omnipotence of the clergy; to the -Reformation, the coalition of Catholics with Protestants, and the -league of the princes of Christendom with the Sultan, a fanatical -Christianity which realises the ideal of national unity by expelling -Jews and Moors, and burning sorcerers and heretics in the crackling -flames of _autodafés_. When Spain enters upon her decadence her -ancient characteristics--individualism, the municipal spirit, and the -democratic fervour--disappear, and the African and Semitic influences -predominate. Under the theocracy the nation of conquerors -degenerates; at Villalar the monarchy conquers the free cities and -the arrogant nobility. {43} The clergy reign in school and palace; -as in the East, they form a superior caste. Rogues and ruffians--the -_picaros_--succeed to the heroes and adventurers of the days of old; -an Oriental parasitism invades the Peninsula, and legions of arrogant -beggars people the highways of Castile. It is the final crisis of -heroic Quixotism. The Moors are revenged for their defeat, imposing -their African fanaticism on an impoverished Peninsula. New Spains -across the ocean rise against the decadent mother-country. Exhausted -with creating new nations, the conquering race sinks into repose, and -a score of democracies prepare to enjoy its moral heritage. - - -[1] Of the Portuguese conquerors we may say that in their -individualism and their love of adventure they resembled the -Spaniards. Their fanaticism was certainly less bitter, perhaps -because they had not been forced to struggle against the enemies of -their faith. - -[2] See Joaquín Costa, _Concepto del Derecho en la Poesia española_ -(_Estudios jurídicos y politicos_, Madrid 1884) - -[3] Altamira, _Historia de España y de la Civilizatión española_, -vol. i. p. 229 _et seq_. - -[4] _En torno al Casticismo_, Madrid, 1902, p. 115. - - - - -{44} - -CHAPTER II - -THE COLONIES OVERSEA - -The conquerors--The conquered races--The influence of religion in the -new societies--Colonial life. - - -In the sixteenth century the Spanish race conquered the various -kingdoms of America. It founded new societies, destroyed ancient -empires, and created cities in the wilderness; and in the following -century it made innumerable laws and sent forth innumerable warlike -expeditions. Between one period and the next--the rude epic of -conquest and the tame existence of the civilised colonies--a strange -contrast is to be observed. - -In the first period cupidity may be said to be the _deus ex machina_ -of the great epic acted by the conquerors: there is a bloody and -barbarous conflict with the unknown territory, the hostile Indians, -the mysterious forests, the enormous rivers, and the desert that -swallows whole legions. This marvellous age is followed, in the -silent cities, by a monotonous, pious, puerile existence. Exhausted -by heroism, the race declines, mingles itself with the Indians, -imports black slaves from Africa, and obeys its Inquisitors and -viceroys. The obscure events of its lamentable existence take place -in a veritable wilderness. Grey and unrelieved is this period, the -period known as "the Colony," for the unstable societies of America -reflect the life of Spain; while the first, that of the Conquest, is -an age of greed and bloodshed, in {45} which the impetuous -adventurers of the Peninsula roam from Mexico to Patagonia, -realising, in the words of de Heredia's sonnet, their "brutal and -heroic dream." - -The Spaniard and the Portuguese of the sixteenth century were men of -the Renaissance; of that age which was perturbed by the restored -spectacle of the life of the world. Voyages, discoveries, Greek -myths and classic poems, which filled the past with legends and -heroic deeds, gave the Latins of the Mediterranean the longing to -explore lands and seas unknown. Individuality developed with an -energy that often merged in crime. Tyrants or conquerors longing for -power and adventure lived in regions far removed from ideals of good -and evil. Mystics--for the mediæval gloom still hung over -Europe--they joined cupidity to faith, and renounced a life of -contemplation in order to push back the limits of the world. Heirs -of the Phoenician ambition, the Portuguese encircled Africa before -discovering America; and many a Spanish captain, before invading the -regions oversea, had fought in Flanders, pillaged Rome, and repeated -the journey of Don Quixote across La Mancha. - -The soul of the _conquistador_ combined audacity with covetousness, -superstition with cruelty, the pride of the hidalgo with the rigour -of the ascetics, a rigid individualism and a thirst for glory with an -infallible faith in the greatness of its own destiny. The -adventurers of the Peninsula were professors of energy: like the -Italian condottieri, like the captains of the Napoleonic epic. A -group of adventurers enslaved the empire of Mexico, destroyed the -power of the Incas, and defeated the indomitable Araucan. Cortez -burned his ships when his companions spoke of renouncing the -difficult enterprise of conquest. Pizarro, with twelve of his -lieutenants, resolved, in a desert island, to invade Peru. - -{46} - -Cortez conquered Mexico; Pizarro and Almagro, Peru; Valdivia and -Almagro, Araucania; Jimenez de Quesada and Benalcazar, the -territories of Colombia; Pedro de Alvarado, Guatemala; Martinez de -Irala, Paraguay; Juan de Garay, the province of La Plata; Martin -Affonso, the Souzas and others, Brazil. Others brought from Italy -the spirit of the Renaissance; such was Pedro de Mendoza, enriched by -the sack of Rome, who, in 1554, organised an expedition to the Rio de -la Plata. The sixteenth century, the age of discoveries, was also -the age of conquest. From all the provinces of Spain and Portugal -adventurers poured into America. The energetic Basques led the way; -but there were fiery Estremadurans, austere Castilians, meditative -Portuguese, and witty Andalusians. Triumph lay before them; they -advanced to conquest over the ruins of cities and the bodies of -Indians. Their incredible prowess often ended in their death upon -the soil they trod as intruders and invaders. - -The America conquered by the Spaniards and Portuguese was peopled by -various races and occupied by many different civilisations. The -invaders unified all these regions, imposing uniform laws, customs, -and religion. In Brazil they found scattered tribes: Tupis, -Tupinambas, Caribs; in Paraguay, the Guaranis; in Uruguay, the -Charruas. The organisation of these peoples of hunters and fishers -was simple; in time of war as in peace they obeyed their chiefs. -These vast territories presented many different tongues, and an -infinite variety of tribes, clans, and societies; ranging from -cannibalism and savagery, through the primitive forms of culture, to -nomadism and the sedentary state. The Araucanians of Chili, a -warlike people, held assemblies to decide upon war, joined in -confederations, and obeyed a _cacique_, who was the strongest and -bravest man of the tribe. They lived in isolation the better to -preserve their independence. - -{47} - -Three barbaric monarchies--the Chibchas or Muiscas in Colombia, the -Incas in Peru, and the Aztecs in Mexico--which boasted of laws, -majestic cities, social classes, colleges of priests, reigning -dynasties, organised armies, academic myths, and even hieroglyphs and -astrologers (not unlike those of Assyria)--differed profoundly in -their complex political organisation from the tribes of America. -Although the Incas were not the liberal princes of Marmontel's dream, -and although the history of their rule was not an idyll, their -meticulous and beneficent tyranny did after long wars of conquest -erect in the ancient Tahuantisuyu a great empire of silent obedience, -an anticipation of the ideals of State Socialism. Property was -collective, and existence subject to strict regulations. The Incas -made labour obligatory, supervised all agricultural operations, and -respected, when they extended their domains, the rites and customs of -vanquished races. - -If the Inca monarchy recalls the great empires of Asia, China, and -Assyria, Mexico, on the other hand, appears to have been a feudal -kingdom in which _caciques_, governors of vast provinces, ruled -beside the absolute monarch. "There is no general overlord," -observed Cortez. There was a central authority, as in Peru, but the -Mexican despotism was more rude and barbarous than that of the Incas; -the blood of human victims dripped from its smoking altars. The -social organism had not reached the degree of perfection attained by -the Inca monarchy. - -The Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, with their mediæval ideas, -their African fanaticism, their marvellous ships, and their powerful -weapons, terrified these peoples who were still dwelling in the age -of bronze and polished stone. Historians report the surprise of -these hungry adventurers before the treasures of Mexico and Peru. -Atahualpa offered to fill with gold the chamber in which Pizarro held -{48} him prisoner. The court of Montezuma displayed an Asiatic -luxury: surrounded with women, buffoons, idols, and strange birds, -under a resplendent canopy loaded with gold and jewels, the Aztec -monarch advances like a king in an Oriental tale. His escort is of -haughty princes. The imperial city abounds in temples, lakes, and -causeways; it is melancholy and sumptuous, the capital of Mexico. -The chroniclers of the time tell us how the cupidity of the -_conquistadors_ was awakened: men who had left a ruined Spain to find -these immense treasures in America; they are writing for impoverished -hidalgos, and fear that they will not be believed when they speak of -this fabulous abundance of gold. Since the days of Ophir and the -Queen of Sheba, says one of these historians, "no ancient writing had -ever stated that gold, silver, and jewels" had ever been discovered -in such vast quantities as those which Castile was about to receive -from her new colonies. - -The soldiers of the conquest pillaged these treasures, sacked temples -and palaces, and quarrelled over their wealth in a series of tragic -struggles. Around the mines cities sprang up and parties were -formed; at Potosi Vicuñas and Biscayans, excited by the sight of the -metal which delighted their cupidity, prolonged the savagery of the -first conflict. Where minerals existed the colonial life was -unstable, harsh, and brutal; in poor countries, such as Chili and the -Argentine, societies were slowly formed which cultivated the soil: -tenacious oligarchies bound to the new country by solid interests. - -The vanquished races and the victors differed greatly from one -another; hence amidst the political and moral unity of the new -societies arose different characteristics and incipient antagonisms. -Spaniards and Portuguese took Indian wives or women; the leaders -married princesses of Mexico and Peru; the soldiers founded -provisional homes in the colonies. {49} The Andalusians settled in -the tropics; the Basques in the temperate regions; and the Castilians -swarmed in the towns. A curious affinity of race, as between the -Basques and the Araucanians, and analogies of climate and landscape, -and, apart from these factors, the erratic wanderings of the -conquerors, explain this original diversity of the American -provinces. Why should they be similar: the offspring of the gentle -Indian Quechuas and the fiery Andalusians; the children of the virile -Araucanians and the calm, reasonable Basques? Wherever the native -population was more abundant, and the political organisation more -complicated, as in Mexico and Peru, its influence on miscegenation -was more potent than in colonies from which the Indian was -disappearing (as the Charruas of Uruguay or the nomadic tribes of -Brazil) before the onset of civilisation. The climate, severe on the -plateaux, and favourable to an energetic existence, warm and -enervating on the coast, contributed to the variety of human types. -The first families sprung of the sensuality of the conquerors already -revealed the elements of future developments. - -It was an age of creation: races and cities, new rites and customs; -all were sprung of the crossing of Iberian and Indian. The diversity -of the elements whose fusion was paving the way for a new caste gave -mankind an interesting variety. The negro, imported by the Spaniard -for the cultivation of the tropical soil, added yet another -complication to the first admixture of castes. Grotesque generations -with every shade of complexion and every conformation of skull were -born in America from the unions stimulated by the kings of Spain. In -the Anglo-Saxon provinces of North America the climate only changed -the invaders; in the Iberian colonies the conquered race, the land -itself, the air they breathed, all modified the conquerors. -Creation, the synthesis of human elements, action and reaction -between the country and {50} the men who ruled it, a crucible -continually agitated by unheard-of fusions of races; all this gave -the process of evolution the intensity and the aspect of a continual -conflict. From the negro _bozal_ recently imported from Africa to -the _quinteron_, the offspring of slaves purified by successive -unions with the whites; from the Indian who mourned his monotonous -servitude in the solitude of the mountains, to the coloured student -of the universities, we find, in the seventeenth century as in the -twentieth, in the colonies as in the republics, every variety of this -admixture of Iberians, Indians, and Africans. From a social point of -view the rank of the individual corresponded generally with the shade -of his epidermis. "In America," wrote Humboldt at the beginning of -the nineteenth century, "the more or less white skin determines the -position which a man holds in society." - -The Spaniard degenerated in the colonies. The passage from a period -of violence to one of conventual quietude betrayed this slow -decadence of the invader, under the pressure of the climate and in -contact with the conquered races. The Creole, the Spaniard born in -America, has lost the prickly characteristics of the hidalgo: the -proud individualism, the love of bloody adventure, the stoicism, the -tenacity in resistance and conflict, and the rigidity of faith. - -In flexibility, brilliance, and grace he has surpassed the rude -Iberian; but his effort is transitory, his will weak; his hatred is -as ephemeral as his love. The new race produces neither mystics nor -men of action, but poets, orators, admirable intriguers, superficial -scholars, brilliant commentators of exotic ideas; from the -seventeenth century onwards they succeed to the first generation of -audacious colonists, heroic monks, and warlike captains. - -To extend the domains of the monarch, to "cause the Indians to live -in the knowledge of our Catholic {51} faith," they conquered America, -and they brought to the New World a religion, a political _régime_, -universities, an economic system--all the elements, in short, of a -traditional civilisation. Absolutism in government, monopoly in -matters of commerce and finance, intolerance in questions of dogma -and morality, tutelage and rigorous isolation; these were the -foundations of Spanish colonisation. The methods practised by the -Dutch and the English in their colonies were not essentially -different. Toqueville and Boutmy have studied the effects, in the -United States, of Calvinistic intolerance and commercial monopoly. -They have remarked upon the slavery of negroes in the agricultural -districts of Virginia, and the cupidity of the emigrants who pursued -the Indians with a truly Puritan ardour. - -The viceroy, the representative of the monarch, exercised full powers -of government in the colonies. He presided over the _Real -Audiencia_, the king's tribunal, was superintendent of finances, -protector of the Church, and chief of the army. To him all power was -subordinate, whether ecclesiastical, military, or civil. A luxurious -court surrounded him, the flattery of courtiers intoxicated him, and -subornation had its way with him. Sometimes the viceroys represented -the real aspirations of the colonists, and were serious legislators, -such as Francisco de Toledo, in Peru; or they defended the colonists -from the expeditions of filibusters with such energy that their -fiercely contested battles evoked the sentiment of nationality. At -other times they enriched themselves by the sale of posts, and -drained the treasury, or passed in progress through the cities of -their state, haughty overlords surrounded with luxury and gold. - -To her political despotism corresponds the commercial monopoly which -Spain established in her dominions. Humboldt defined the ancient -ideal of {52} the colonising races in his "Essay on the Government of -New Spain": "For centuries a colony was regarded as useful to the -metropolis only inasmuch as it furnished a great number of raw -materials and consumed plenty of goods and merchandise, which were -borne by the vessels of the mother-country."[1] England, Holland, -Spain, and Portugal acted upon the same exclusivist principles; the -ordinances of Cromwell were as inflexible on this point as the -schedules of Philip II. Commercial liberty and industrial -competition were condemned on the same grounds as rebellion and -heresy. - -Politics and economics were subordinated to religion; the third -combined the absolutism of the first and the monopoly of the second. -The conquest of America was apostolic. The Spanish captains fought -to convert the overseas infidels. The imperialism of Charles V. and -Philip II. had a religious character. To preserve the colonies from -heresy it closed the ports, prohibited all traffic with foreigners, -and imposed a conventual seclusion upon a whole world. The Church -was the centre of colonial life. She governed in the spiritual -order; imposed punishments, flagellations, exile, and -excommunication, and delivered unbelievers and sorcerers to the -purifying care of the Inquisition. In the department of morals she -kept a watchful eye upon the people; she defended the Indians, and -often opposed the governors. Viceroy and _cacique_ feared her -equally. A formidable moral power, she helped to discipline the -unruly Creoles, to unite classes and races, and to form nations. The -cities were adorned by her chapels and convents, and to these -convents, in pious mood, the hidalgos often left all their -possessions. - -Thus property became a monopoly of the convents. Hence a plethora of -monks and nuns, and the {53} accumulation, in Mexico and at Lima, of -enormous wealth. In Peru the annual income of the archbishop -amounted to £8,000, and that of some bishops to £4,000. What with -bishops and viceroys there was no lack of luxury. A pompous and -sensual Catholicism satisfied the imagination of the Creoles, the -superstitious fears of the Indians, and the cheerful materialism of -the negroes. The Aztec, the _quechua_, accepted from the monks a -strange, Byzantine dogma, mingled with aristocratic ideals and -Oriental mysteries. The native soon confounded the two mythologies. -In Mexico, so Humboldt reported, "the Holy Ghost is the sacred eagle -of the Aztecs." Novel and sumptuous rites were added to the -traditional religion. Processions and festivals, a kind of continual -religious fair, united all races. The people loved the cult of -religion, with its external manifestations, its virgins loaded with -heavy _ex-votos_, its sorrowing Christs, its gorgeously-decked -saints, and the glitter of gold and silk. - -As confessor the priest influenced the family and directed the -education of children; as preacher he condemned immorality and judged -the governors. As in Byzantium, as in the Florence of Savonarola, -the colonial monk, speaking in the name of the exploited populace, -was an austere professor of virtue. The Creole admired his -ecclesiastical learning, and his invincible attitude before the -powers of this world; in him the Indian found a protector. - -The American colonies differed in social composition. The negro -abounded in Peru and Cuba, but soon disappeared in Chili and the -Argentine. The poverty of Araucania contrasted with the opulence of -Caracas, Lima, and Mexico. In the Aztec capital some territorial -seigneurs drew forty thousand a year sterling in revenues. Frezier -valued the jewels of a rich lady of Lima at 240,000 livres of silver. -The melancholy Sierra, peopled by Indians, contrasted {54} with the -life of the coast, where luxurious cities attracted the traveller. -In the cities of the interior, Cordoba or Charcas, we find settled -traditions, tenacity, and sobriety, but in the capitals of the coast -all is luxury, instability, and licence. - -Spain tended to destroy this variety by uniform laws.[2] Originality -was as odious to her as heresy. Customs and beliefs, hierarchies and -privileges, all must be uniform. Under such a _régime_ the life of -the colonies was dull and monotonous. The cities slumbered, lulled -by the murmur of prayers and fountains. Idleness was the natural -condition of the Creole; lengthy meals and daily siestas limited his -inconsiderable activities. The empty streets and squares knew hours -of silence; rejoicings were ordered, and the orders pasted on the -hoardings; gaiety itself was imposed. It seemed as though time -itself must stand still in these cities of parallel streets; that the -ideal of all men must be absolute quietude. - -The hidalgo of noble origin, the owner of vast domains, governed his -sons and his slaves with the severity of a Roman patrician. He could -be neither merchant nor manufacturer; commerce and industry were "low -callings." He was attracted rather by the bar, the subtleties of the -"doctors," the scholarship and poetry of the courts. Whether at the -university or the _cabildo_ (municipality), his life would be the -same. He would sing the glory of viceroys in Gongoric rhymes, or -commentate upon Duns Scotus, or meticulously construct acrostics or -syllogisms. In the café, at social gatherings, in the literary -salons, he would whisper criticisms of the governors and the bishops, -or discuss the titles to nobility of a marquis of recent creation, or -the purity {55} of blood of an enriched mulatto. A conventual -chapter, or the quarrel of a bishop and a viceroy, or a bull-fight, -would fill him with ecstasy. Attending mass in the morning, and in -the evening driving through the stately streets in a luxurious -_calèche_, the proud caballero would bear himself majestically. At -night, in his gloomy house, he would find his wife telling her beads, -surrounded by docile slaves. - -Sensuality and mysticism were the pleasures of the colonists. The -convents themselves, despite their high walls, were not able to shut -out these violent delights. Licentious monks, nuns with lovers, -sprightly abbés, figure in the chronicles of the period as in the -Italian _contes_. The cloister, with its rich arabesques, the -_patio_ (courtyard) perfumed with orange-blossom, the murmuring jet -of the fountain: these evoke the passion of Andalusia. A devout -society pays the insatiable convents a tribute of gold and virgins; -and love, fleeing the dead cities, takes refuge in cells quick with -ambition and unruly desires. - -The woman, guarded in the Oriental fashion, in houses strong as -fortresses, attracts society to her salon by her Parisian grace; in a -world of ponderous scholars she is famous for her amenity and -subtlety. Her fidelity, for the hidalgo, is a question of his -honour. The husband revenges himself for transgressions by terrible -punishments, as in the Calderonian drama, while the heroic lover -brings his exasperated desires to the Moorish balcony, where he -awaits his lady in torment. Away from home, a host of illegitimate -unions, of concubines, of clandestine amours. - -Passion will be tragic and devotion voluptuous; in place of mystics -we shall find _illuminés_. The devil is the essential personage of -this religion of minutiæ; thanks to him the dreary colonial life is -surrounded by mystery; his appearances and his manoeuvres thrill the -Creole's blood. Hobgoblins, {56} sorcerers, spells, thefts of the -consecrated host, and exorcisms occupy the Inquisition; tales of -incubi and succubi, of pacts with Satan, of ghosts that expiate their -old offences in long-abandoned houses; absurd miracles of saints; -processions mingling with the dances of slaves; gaily decked temples -and parasitic rights which stifle the traditional faith, deprive the -Catholicism of Spain of its Semitic rigidity. - -All through life the pious colonist is surrounded by marvels. He -loves nature with an ingenuous faith, and attributes to the saints -and demons a continual intervention in his placid existence. An -unexpected sound reveals the presence of a soul in torment; a tremor -of the earth, the divine wrath; sickness is a proof of diabolic -influence; health, of the efficacy of an amulet. In the pharmacies -chimerical products may be purchased--condor's grease, unicorn's -horns, and the claws of the "great beast." - -The monotonous hours are passed in devotions and futilities, prayers -and conventual disputes, long ceremonies and useless entertainments. -Sometimes the even course of life is interrupted by a startling feat -of prowess, or a festival, all gold and servility; the royal seals -have arrived, a princess is born in Spain, a treasure has been -discovered, a port has been sacked by audacious pirates, or sorcerers -or Portuguese Jews are to be burned in an imposing _autodafé_. Then -the provincial cities, slowly threaded by sumptuous processions, are -all astir, but the dazzling vision is only ephemeral, and the grey -monotony returns, with its petty quarrels, its indolence, its -exaggerated rites. - -The royal seals arrive under a _pallium_, and a luxuriously appointed -horse advances, bearing the treasure. The spectators kneel before -the symbol of monarchical majesty, and incense, as at the feet of a -Byzantine ikon, expresses the adoration of {57} believers. The -viceroy also enters beneath a canopy, passing in solemn procession -through the servile city, while the bells of a hundred churches -celebrate his advent, and a solemn cohort of _cabildantes_ in their -robes, monks of all orders, and bedizened doctors, praise with -courtier-like devotion the glory of the royal messenger. In the -religious festivals the majestic altars which the devout, in token of -penitence, carry upon their shoulders, bear virgins clad in velvets -and glittering with jewels, or saints that bow to one another like -courtly hidalgos, or Christs that weep before the wondering crowd. -Around these gorgeous altars dance the slaves, and the monks chant a -melancholy anthem. Seized by a sacred intoxication, men and women -scourge their bodies till they bleed. - -The cry of anguish mingles with the monotony of the prayers, amidst -the tremulous excitement of the faithful. - -The _autodafés_ were the supreme feast of blood. The chronicles of -the time praise the "marvellous" spectacle. The funeral procession -advanced towards the pyre, surrounded by burlesque and fanatical -groups. Groaning monks hemmed in the sorcerers, the blasphemers, the -heretics; some bearing a yellow and others a green veil, and -lugubrious draperies on which were miniature paintings descriptive of -the infernal torments; others wore dunces' caps, which excited the -cruelty of the people. As the victims proceeded to the pyre a crowd -thirsting for the sight and sound of martyrdom, drunken with the heat -of the sun, acclaimed the holocaust beneath the impassive tribune of -the Inquisitors. Farce and grotesque invention mingled with tragedy, -Oriental luxury with a mystic terror; and the great lady who at night -would be dancing the pavane in her salon now devoutly sniffed the -acrid stench of charred flesh and blood. - - -[1] Vol. iv. p. 285; Paris, 1811. - -[2] The Portuguese colonisation of Brazil was less rigid, and the -commercial isolation less rigorous; and religion was neither -fanatical nor so powerful as in the Spanish colonies. - - - - -{58} - -CHAPTER III - -THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE - -I. Economic and political aspects of the struggles--Monarchy and the -Republic--The leaders: Miranda, Belgrano, Francia, Iturbide, King -Pedro I., Artigas, San Martin, Bolivar--Bolivar the Liberator: his -ideas and his deeds. - -II. Revolutionary ideology--Influence of Rousseau--The Rights of -Man--The example of the United States--English ideas in the -constitutional projects of Miranda and Bolivar--European action: -Canning. - - -I. Oppressed by theocracy and monopoly, by privileged castes and -Peninsular functionaries, the Spanish and Portuguese colonies aspired -towards independence. The English provinces of the North separated -themselves from England for practical reasons; in the struggles of -the South we see a double economic and political motive. In some -vice-royalties, such as that of La Plata, the struggle was due -chiefly to an opposition of interests; in other provinces, as in -Venezuela, ideas of political reform were predominant. - -Writers have attempted to explain the unanimity of the liberative -movement by a "historical materialism" analogous to that of Karl Marx -and Labriola; but the reality, richer and more complex, does not -submit itself to this logical simplicity. The revolution was not -merely an economic protest; it nourished concrete social ambitions. -An equalising movement, it aimed at the destruction of privileges, of -the arbitrary Spanish hierarchy, and finally, when {59} its levelling -instinct was aroused and irritated, the destruction of authority to -the profit of anarchy. The Creoles, deprived of all political -function, revolted; in matters of economics they condemned excessive -taxation and monopoly; in matters of politics they attacked slavery, -the Inquisition, and moral tutelage. Charles III. had recognised, in -1783, in spite of the counsels of his minister Aranda, the -independence of the United States, which were to serve his own -colonies as precedent, and he expelled the Jesuits from America, the -defence of the Indians against the oppression of Spanish governors. -The corruption of the courts, the sale of offices, and the tyranny of -the viceroys, all added to the causes of discontent, disturbance, and -poverty. - -The Creoles opposed nationality to patriotism, the half-castes -opposed democracy to the oligarchies. These were two phases of a -great revolution. The first battle was over in 1830, and the -conflict between the privileged class and the democracy commenced. -It reached its culminating point about 1860, with the enfranchisement -of the slaves, but it continued during the rest of the century and -engendered an interminable civil discord. - -The Spanish provinces, subjected to a political absolutism, -transformed themselves into republics, a change of system that was -not effected without a moral crisis. Even while fighting their -battles the Creoles sought uneasily for a new mould into which to -pour their liberalism. In the face of increasing disorder they had -thoughts of a monarchy, of an oligarchic republic, of a permanent -presidency: of various forms which might possess the necessary -stability. Three phases may be distinguished in the movement of -liberation: the colonial, the monarchical, and the republican. - -During the first phase the colonists manifested their loyalty to the -Peninsular monarchy. - -{60} - -The first colonial _juntas_, in 1809 and 1810, desired the Spanish -suzerainty to be preserved. They invoked the feudal tie which bound -them to the monarch, the imprisoned Ferdinand VII. The French were -triumphant in the Peninsula, but they swore fidelity to the absent -king. Vassalage having been destroyed by the foreign invasion, the -colonies, in accordance with the law of _las partidas_, acquired the -right of self-government; they were reserved for the king. The -_juntas_ disguised their radical ambitions under legal forms. Their -effort towards traditionalism was perhaps sincere on some occasions, -but the current of revolution, which was gathering itself together in -the womb of history, destroyed these provisional vistas. Thus the -_cabildo_ of Buenos-Ayres declared that "no obligations would be -recognised other than those due to his person" (the King's). -Spaniards and Americans joined in taking an oath of fidelity to -Ferdinand VII. The captain-general of Venezuela, deprived of his -functions in 1810, was replaced by a "Supreme Junta," preserving the -rights of the sovereign, and the oath of fidelity to the monarch was -observed. In 1809 the Junta of La Paz, which emancipated the -Creoles, and the revolt of Quito, recognised the same royal tutelage. -The Chilian regulations of 1811 enacted that the executive power -should govern in the name of the king. In 1821 Iturbide proclaimed -his submission to the king upon founding the empire of Mexico. - -It was an ephemeral loyalty, given to a king who had abdicated, who -had suffered exile, and who, after the liberal Cortes of Cadiz, -re-established a despotic government. These immense colonies did not -revolt merely in order to restore an incapable prince to his throne. -While newly-created generals were winning battles political autonomy -was becoming a fact. The Creoles, who had directed the revolutionary -movement, concealed their bold ambitions {61} from a populace that -was passive, a slave to routine, and largely royalist. - -[Illustration: GABINO BARREDA. Great Mexican Educationalist GENERAL -JOSÉ ANTONIO PAEZ. President of Venezuela (1831-1935 and 1838-1842)] - -The American _élite_ were monarchists. In liberating a continent -their generals and statesmen professed to endow the new nations with -the stability of a monarchy. Iturbide was Emperor of Mexico. The -lieutenants of Bolivar offered the latter a crown; Paez persistently -held the imperial ambition before him. Belgrano, in 1816, at the -Congress of Tucuman, stated that the best form of government for the -Argentine was "a tempered monarchy"; and many deputies in that -Assembly demanded the restoration of the throne of the Incas and of -its traditional seat at Cuzco: in short, the creation of an American -dynasty. - -Bolivar wished to see Colombia and Spanish America constitutional -monarchies with foreign princes. Ministers were to exercise a policy -"of vigilance or defence, of mediation or influence, of protection or -tutelage" on the part of the great European states in respect of the -Colombian nation. Other partisans of the monarchy were Flores, -Sucre, Monteagudo, Garcia del Rio, Riva-Agüero, and the Argentine -director Posadas, who wished to establish that form of government "on -solid and permanent foundations" in the provinces of La Plata; Dean -Funes, the Colombians Nariño, Mosquera, Briceno Mendez, and others. -The founders of South American independence understood that only a -strong government could save the new nations from demagogy, anarchy, -warfare between military chiefs, and untimely provincial ambitions. -They wanted autonomy without licence, monarchy without despotism, and -political solidity without Spanish suzerainty. - -Despite this conviction on the part of the revolutionaries, South -America saw the birth of the Republic. Alberdi wrote that its origin -was involuntary, and that it was the result of European {62} -indifference and Yankee egoism; more than involuntary, it was -spontaneous. The demagogues and the crowd accepted it as the -negation of monarchy. The latter symbolised the Gothic despotism, -the old humiliating domination, the persistence of castes and -municipal privilege. In the popular mind, naturally of a simplifying -tendency, monarchy was slavery; anarchy and the republic were -liberty; there was no distinction between the King of Spain and other -princes, between the absolutism of Ferdinand VII. and the -constitutional monarchy of England. A universal hatred condemned all -kings. The republic was not so much an organisation or a political -system as a negation, and indissolubly bound up with it were the -cardinal ideas of country, equality, and liberty. - -Monarchy offered America stability and independence; it would have -prevented civil war and avoided half a century of anarchy. It was -the sole American tradition. The battles of the Revolution gave the -hegemony to ambitious generals; against these a central government, -above the quarrels of parties, would have defended liberal -institutions. A constitutional prince would have given these divided -nations unity and continuity, under the pressure of which ambitions, -parties, and classes would finally have found their places. The -social elevation of half-castes and mulattos would have been less -violent under such a system. - -Finally, the American monarchy would have entered into the group of -Occidental nations, and the Monroe doctrine would not have isolated -her politically from the Europe that sent her men, money, and ideas. - -But would it have been possible to found respectable and lasting -dynasties in America? The fall of two empires, Mexico and Brazil, -tells us that republicanism is obscurely implicated with the {63} -destinies of the country. The new States had no nobles to surround a -prince, nor could they have supported the luxury of a court. - -The equalitarian instinct condemned all hierarchies in America, and -there were no princes to become creators of nationality as in modern -Europe. The viceroys and semi-feudal barons exercised an ephemeral -empire and were not Americans; the colonies were used to frequent -changes of authority. To these reasons in favour of a republic we -must add the danger that foreign monarchies might have involved the -continent in the diplomatic complications of Europe. Perhaps even -the Holy Alliance would have led the colonies back to Spain, as a -prodigal child is led back to its parents. - -Bolivar expounded the defects of a foreign monarchy. To the imported -king he would have preferred the irremovable president and the -English senate, and if in the face of advancing anarchy he glanced at -the question of European princes he soon understood that it could -never prove a radical solution of the problems of the New World. -"There is no power more difficult to maintain than that of a new -prince" he told the Bolivians. There were in America "neither great -nobles nor great prelates, and without these two props no monarchy is -permanent." To the Liberator kings symbolised tyranny; he connected -independence with republicanism, and believed that nature itself -would oppose the monarchical system in America. In 1829, in a letter -to Vergera, the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs, he expressed -his arguments against the monarchy with great precision: "No foreign -prince," he wrote, "would accept as his patrimony a principality -which was anarchical and without guarantees; the national debts and -the poverty of the country leave no means to entertain a prince and a -court, even miserably; the lower classes would {64} take alarm, -fearing the effects of aristocracy and inequality; the generals and -the ambitious of every stamp could never support the idea of seeing -themselves deprived of the supreme command; the new nobility -indispensable to a monarchy would issue from the mass of the people, -with every species of jealousy on the one hand and of pride on the -other. No one would patiently endure such a miserable aristocracy, -steeped in ignorance and poverty and full of ridiculous pretensions." -The creator of five nations, Bolivar was profoundly conscious of the -new social body, a disturbed and disorganised mass. He understood -that the ambition of his lieutenants and the equalitarian tendency of -the mob would oppose an American monarchy or a foreign principality. -Iturbide and Maximilian, two emperors dethroned and shot, have -justified his objections. - -England, who might have founded constitutional monarchies in America, -in spite of the Holy Alliance, pursued a commercial rather than a -political policy. In 1829 Lord Aberdeen announced that his -Government would not permit the establishment of a French or English -prince, nor a prince of any other European dynasty, in Colombia. He -would accept only a Spanish prince, or the monarchy of Bolivar -himself.[1] The Conde de Aranda proposed to the King of Spain that -America should be divided into nations governed by the Infantas, but -his plan was not followed up. Once the independence of America was a -fact, and the despotism of Ferdinand VII. re-established, no Spanish -prince could be acceptable either to Argentina or Colombia. In the -face of European indifference the tentative efforts of the -monarchists spent themselves in America, and the continent acquired -its definitive individuality. In opposition to the monarchies by -divine right of the {65} Old World a liberal world came to birth; -incoherent and incipient nationalities adopted equalitarian -constitutions, which were, in the distant future, to flood their -deserted territories with immense moral and material forces. - -From Mexico to Chili the same revolutionary fervour engendered the -partial movements of 1808 to 1811. Conspirators similar to the -Italian _carbonari_, lodges in which men spoke of liberty in the -midst of ingenuous rites, and university students who had read the -Encyclopædists, were preparing the great crusade. The year 1809 was -the first of the Revolution. On the 1st of January there was a -popular rising in Buenos-Ayres; on the 16th of July a revolt at La -Paz; on the 2nd of August a meeting took place at Quito. In 1806 an -English expedition attacked Buenos-Ayres. At a venture, on his way -home from Africa, an officer who entertained ambitions in the -direction of new territory and new sources of wealth--Sir Home -Popham--invaded the capital of the viceroyalty of La Plata. This -city was defended not by the legitimate Spanish authority, but by a -noble _caudillo_, who was soon to be a popular viceroy: Santiago de -Liniers, the hero of the "Reconquest." In this struggle against the -imperialist invader the Argentine people found the first revelation -of nationality. First they freed themselves from the English; then -from the Spaniards. On the 25th of May, 1810, the _cabildo abierto_ -(the municipality and the people), who had united on the 22nd, -demanded the dismissal of the viceroy, and elected a governmental and -revolutionary _junta_, patriotic but undecided. As early as 1808, in -Montevideo, a _junta_ formed in the heat of a violent popular -commotion had turned against the viceroy of Buenos-Ayres. - -Spain implacably condemned these precursors of the Independence. She -exiled or strangled the rebels, {66} Zela in Peru; Dr. Espejo in -Ecuador; Gual y España in Venezuela; two indomitable priests, Hidalgo -and Morelos, in Mexico; Father Camilo Henriquez and Dr. Martinez de -Rosas in Chili; Tiradentes in Brazil; Nariño in Colombia; all, -between 1780 and 1810, struggled against the governors and viceroys, -and in their liberal enthusiasm were precursors of the audacious wars -of the future. The most notable of these was a Byronic individual, -the Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda. He was born in Caracas in 1756. -He had a brilliant career in Europe, knew ministers and monarchs, was -the favourite of Catherine of Russia, fought beside Dumouriez in the -armies of the French Revolution, went to the United States with the -legion which Spain sent thither to fight in the cause of American -independence, obtained the sanction of Pitt to lead revolutionary -expeditions against the Spanish authorities in Venezuela, and was -concerned in all the liberative movements of his time, whether in -Caracas or Buenos-Ayres. He formed an alliance between the destinies -of the continent and the ambition of England, the gold of the London -bankers, and the interests of English merchants, and so contributed, -even more than by his abortive enterprises, to the cause of American -liberty. - -The cycle of the Precursors closed and that of the Liberators opened. -The Spanish reaction had not vanquished the revolutionary principle. -The first _caudillos_ were dead; they were replaced by fresh leaders: -the Directors, energetic and impassioned: Belgrano and San Martin in -the Argentine, Dr. Francia in Paraguay, Artigas in Uruguay, Iturbide -in Mexico, General Morazan in Central America, King Pedro I. in -Brazil, and Bolivar, the liberator of five republics. - -[Illustration: GENERAL FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA (VENEZUELA). Who -prepared for the liberation of his country. To face p. 66.] - -Belgrano, an economic reformer, a supporter of commercial liberty, a -founder of schools, was the {67} leader of the Argentine -emancipation. He fought in Paraguay, where he suggested autonomy; in -Uruguay, in the Argentine Sierra, and on the frontiers of Upper Peru. -He was not a fortunate leader; he won the battle of Tucuman, but he -was defeated by the royalists in other battles: Vilcapugio and -Ayohuma. He retired, then returned to the struggle; took part in the -civil wars against the dissident leaders, defended the constitutional -monarchy at the Congress of Tucuman, and from 1808 to 1820 -personified the uncertain progress of the Argentine revolution. - -San Martin was his superior as a successful fighter, and in the scope -of his action as liberator; he was a continental figure. A great -general, able to organise armies and lead them to victory, his mind -was methodical and conservative; he disliked abstractions, and was -concrete and positive in his plans. He delivered Chili and -contributed to the independence of Peru. While others were drawing -up political programmes he was winning battles. He recalls -Washington by the disinterested nobility of his character; he refused -power after liberating two nations, and condemned himself to exile, -being surrounded by ambitious generals who quarrelled for the supreme -power. In action he was simple and orderly, and progressive; he -defeated the Spaniards at San Lorenzo in 1813, giving proof of -admirable warlike qualities; he then led the army of the North which -fought in Upper Peru, and became the intendant of an Argentine -province, Cuyo, in 1814. There he formed an army, and proposed to -cross the Andes to the aid of the Chilian patriots. According to a -French military critic, M. Charles Malo, "the passage of the Andes -was in no way surpassed by the more famous passage of the Alps by the -French." The summits of the Cordilleras are over twelve thousand -feet high; and it was across them that {68} the army of San Martin, -decimated and heroic, victorious over cold and fatigue, made its way -into Chili. From that time forward the Argentine leader was an -American general. At the foot of the Cordilleras, on the flanks of -Chacabuco, he gained a decisive battle over the Spaniards (1817). He -dislodged them from the summits which they occupied and entered -Santiago in triumph, and was there proclaimed supreme director of -Chili. He accepted the command of the armies, and was thereafter -victorious at Maipo (1818), where his artillery put the royalists to -flight. Chilian independence once assured, he aspired to fresh -victories in Peru. American autonomy was his unfaltering ambition. - -The Peruvian viceroyalty was the centre of the Spanish power, the -treasury and arsenal of the royalists. Bolivar, in Colombia, and San -Martin, in Chili, understood that all their victories would remain -futile if they did not defeat Spain in the richest and most -impregnable of her domains. Lord Cochrane, an English privateer, who -had seen service in the Mediterranean, formed a squadron in Chilian -waters for the purpose of dominating the Pacific (1819). He defeated -the Spanish fleet at Callao, and declared a blockade of the Peruvian -ports as far as Guayaquil. During this time San Martin was making -ready, with his Argentine and Chilian troops, for his expedition of -liberation. The Peruvian revolutionaries were awaiting him. He -landed at Pisco (1820) with his army, and proclaimed the independence -of Peru at Lima, which the Spaniards had deserted, on the 21st of -July, 1821. Appointed Protector of the Republic which he had -founded, he promulgated a provisional Constitution. Then from the -North came another Liberator, Bolivar, to discuss with San Martin, in -that mysterious interview at Guayaquil, the destinies of the Spanish -New World. - -[Illustration: SAN MARTIN. General of Argentine, Liberator of Chile, -and Protector of Peru. To face p. 68.] - -San Martin, stoical and silent, yielded to the {69} impetuosity of -Bolivar, abandoned Peru to him, the theatre of his future deeds of -prowess, renounced his position (1822), and left America. His -ambition, like his genius, was circumscribed; he preferred military -glory to dictatorships; he believed in the benefits of foreign -monarchies: he could organise armies, but he was powerless before -anarchy. - -Bolivar is the greatest of the American liberators. He surpasses -some in ambition, others in heroism, and all in multiform activity, -in prophetic insight, and in power. He was, amid the glorious -generals and rival _caudillos_, the hero of Carlyle, "source of -light, of intimate and native originality, virility, nobility, and -heroism, in contact with whom every soul feels that it is in its -element." All powers yielded to him. "Often," writes General -Santander, "I go to him full of rancour, and only to see him disarms -me, and I go away full of admiration." The people, with an -infallible instinct, understood his heroic mission and worshipped -him; the clergy praised him, and the glory of Bolivar was sung in the -Catholic churches. He was statesman and warrior; he could criticise -Olmedo's ode on the battle of Junin, decide the make-up of a journal, -draw a plan of battle, organise legions, draft statutes, give -diplomatic advice, and direct great campaigns; his genius was as rich -and as various as that of Napoleon. Five nations, which he had -snatched from the rule of Spain, seemed to him a narrow theatre for -his magnificent career; he conceived a vast plan of Continental -federation. At Panama he assembled the ambassadors of ten republics, -and was already dreaming of an amphictyonic league of nations which -should influence the destinies of the world. - -Simon Bolivar was born at Caracas on the 24th of July, 1783, of a -noble family of Vascongadas. In his youth he travelled through -Europe in company {70} with his tutor, Simon Rodriguez: an austere -mentor. He studied the Latin classics, Montesquieu, Rousseau, -Holbach, and the Encyclopædists. Before his tutor, at Rome, on the -Monte Sacro, he swore, like Hannibal of old, to consecrate his life -to the liberation of his native country. He was nervous, impetuous, -sensual--traits of the American Creole of the South; active and -persevering in his undertakings, as an heir to the tenacity of the -Biscayan should be; generous to a fault, and valiant to the verge of -folly. He had the bearing and the features of a typical _caudillo_; -the forehead high, the back straight; a luminous glance that -impressed both friends and enemies, a resolute air, and eloquent -gestures. His was a nature shaped for action, unhesitating and -immediate; he had the face and the genius of an Imperator. At -Caracas, after his long years of travel, he kept his Roman oath. -From 1813 to 1830 he fought against the Spaniards and against his own -generals, indefatigable in his task of liberation. Two terrible -Iberian warriors, Boves and Morillo, carried "war to the death" into -Venezuela. Bolivar opposed them, aided by Bermudez Piar, Mariño, and -Paez, lieutenants alternately for and against him during his warlike -career. In the Antilles he made ready for many expeditions. He was -appointed supreme leader, provisional president, and director of the -country; his generals doubted him, were jealous of his fame, and -conspired against his authority, but Bolivar continued the war in the -midst of the anarchy of Colombia. - -[Illustration: BOLIVAR IN 1810. To face p. 71.] - -He routed the Spaniards at Boyaca in 1819, and at Carabobo in 1821, -and entered Caracas victorious. Colombia liberated, he turned to -Quito. One of his lieutenants, Sucre, a man heroic and noble as the -heroes of antiquity, won fresh battles at Bombona and Pinchincha -(1822). Peru appealed to the Liberator, to "Bolivar, the hero of -America." - -{71} - -The Colombian _caudillo_ did not ignore the perils of the -undertaking; the Spanish troops were good fighters; they had been -victorious, and were not without resources in the Sierra; and the -Peruvian and Colombian allies were inferior to them in experience and -cohesion. "This matter of the war in Peru demands an enormous effort -and inexhaustible resources," he wrote to Sucre. Impelled by his -genius, he accepted the offer of the Peruvians, for he did not forget -that "the loss of Peru would necessarily involve that of the whole of -the south of Colombia." The Congress of Lima invested him with "the -supreme military authority throughout the territory of the Republic." -Two great battles, Junin and Ayacucho (1824), assured the -independence of America. At Junin Bolivar led a cavalry charge which -decided the day, which was followed by a hand-to-hand fight, not a -single musket-shot being heard above the ring and clash of the -sabres. Sucre was the hero of Ayacucho: it was he who devised the -admirable plan of battle. The patriots were 6,000, the Spaniards -9,000. The Spanish artillery was superior to that of the allies. -The enemy opened fire, descending the hillsides; the two lines of -battle drew together. Night brought a truce; the officers of the two -armies chatted in friendly groups before the coming conflict. On the -morning of the 9th of December a charge of cavalry under General -Cordova scattered the Spanish battalions: whereupon the royalist -reserve came into action. The left wing of the allies wavered, but -was reinforced, and the victory was complete. The Spanish army -capitulated, its generals surrendered, and Peru was abandoned by its -ancient rulers. Bolivar praised the heroism of Sucre, "the father of -Ayacucho, the saviour of the sons of the sun," and Lima lauded the -Liberator to the skies, proclaimed him the father and saviour of -Peru, and elected him permanent President. After {72} these -victories the capture of Potosi by the troops of Sucre and the -reduction of the fortress of Callao, where the _penates_ of Spain -were guarded, terminated Bolivar's magnificent career. His last -years were melancholy, like a tropical twilight. Paez and Santander -revolted against him; he was given the supreme power and deprived of -it; he was offered a crown, and was the victim of conspiracy. The -Liberator died, abandoned, a tragic figure, at Santa Marta, on the -deserted Colombian coast, like Napoleon at St. Helena, at the age of -forty-seven, on the 17th of December, 1830. - -Statesman and general, Bolivar was even greater in the assembly than -on the field of battle. Equal to Sucre and San Martin as tactician, -as politician he was the greatest of all the _caudillos_. He was the -thinker of the Revolution; he drafted statutes, analysed the social -condition of the democracies he liberated, and foretold the future -with the precision of a seer. The enemy of ideologists, like the -great First Consul, an idealist and a romantic, a lover of syntheses -in the region of ideas and of politics, he never forgot the rude -environment of his deeds. His Latin dreams were tempered by a Saxon -realism. A disciple of Rousseau, he wished "the will of the people -to be the only power existing on the face of the earth"; but in the -face of an anarchical democracy he sought uneasily for a moral power. -In 1823 he thought that the sovereignty of the people was not -illimitable: "justice is its basis, and perfect utility sets a term -to it." A republican--"since Napoleon has been a monarch," he said, -he who so admired Napoleon, "his glory seems to me a gleam from -Hell"--he wished, despite the servile admiration of his friends, to -be neither a Napoleon nor an Iturbide. He disdained all imperial -pomp; he wished to be merely the soldier of the Independence. He -made a profound analysis of the failings of a future {73} monarchy in -the old Spanish colonies. At the Conference of Guayaquil (1822) San -Martin represented the monarchical tendency, Bolivar the republican -principle. Their opposition was irreconcilable, said Mitre, the -Argentine historian, for one was working for the Argentine hegemony -and the other for the Colombian: the first respected the -individuality of the separate peoples and would only accept -intervention in exceptional cases; the second wished to unite the -various peoples according to a "plan of absorption and monocracy."[2] -This antagonism called for a superior point of agreement, a -synthesis, for the Colombian doctrine brought with it as a reaction -the premature formation of unstable democracies, and the Argentine -theory favoured indifference, egoism, and the isolation of nations -united by race, tradition, and history. - -The genius, aristocratic pride, and ambition of Bolivar impelled him -towards autocracy. He exercised a dictatorship and believed in the -benefits of a permanent presidency. "In republics," he stated, "the -executive power should be of the strongest, for all conspire against -it; while in monarchies the legislative power should be supreme, for -all conspire in favour of the monarch. Hence the necessity of giving -a republican magistrate more authority than a constitutional prince." -He did not forget the dangers of an autocratic presidency; but he -feared anarchy, "the ferocious hydra of discordant anarchy," which -grew like a noxious vegetation, stifling his triumphant work. He -regarded with amazement the contradictions of American life: disorder -leads to dictatorship, and the latter is the enemy of democracy. -"The permanence of power in a single individual," writes the -Liberator, "has often marked the end of democratic governments." Yet -"indefinite liberty, absolute democracy, are {74} snares in which all -republican hopes come to grief." Liberty without licence, authority -without tyranny: such was the ideal of Bolivar. In vain did he -struggle single-handed amid ambitious generals and a disordered -people; before he died he understood the vanity of his efforts. -"Those who have served the cause of the Revolution," he cried, "have -ploughed the sand.... If it were possible that a portion of the -world should return to its primitive chaos, such would be the last -phase of America." He denounced the moral poverty of these new -republics with the severity of a Hebrew prophet. "There is no faith -in America, neither in men nor in nations. Their treaties are waste -paper; their constitutions are paper and ink; their elections are -battles; liberty is anarchy, and life a torment." - -This pessimism, the _credo_ of his maturity, was born of his -implacable analysis of American failings. Bolivar understood the -original traits and the vices of the new continent. "We are," he -said, "a small human family; we possess a world of our own, -surrounded by vast oceans; new in almost every art and science, -although, in a certain sense, old in the usages of civil society. -The present state of America recalls the fall of the Roman Empire, -when each part formed a distinct political system, in conformity with -its interests, its situation, or its corporations." "We shall not -see, nor the generation following us," he wrote in 1822, "the triumph -of the America we are founding: I regard America as in the chrysalis. -There will be a metamorphosis in the physical life of its -inhabitants; there will finally be a new caste, of all the races, -which will result in the homogeneity of the people." - -While scholars were constructing Utopias, imitating, in their -provisional statutes, the federal constitution of the United States, -and legislating for an ideal democracy, Bolivar was studying the -social {75} conditions of America. "We are not Europeans," he wrote, -"nor Indians either; but a kind of half-way species between the -aborigines and the Spaniards; American by birth, European by right, -we find ourselves forced to dispute our titles of possession with the -natives, and to maintain ourselves in the country which saw our birth -in spite of the opposition of invaders: so that our case is all the -more extraordinary and complicated." "Let us be careful not to -forget that our race is neither European nor North American; but -rather a composite of America and Africa, than an emanation from -Europe, since Spain herself ceased to be European by virtue of her -African [Arab] blood, her institutions, and her character." - -The Liberator proposed political institutions suited to a continent -which in its territory and race and history was original. He was in -favour of a tutelary authority: "The American States need the care of -paternal governments which will heal the wounds and sores of -despotism and war." He loathed federalism and the division of power: -"Let us abandon the federal forms of government: they are not suited -to us. Such a form of society is a regularised anarchy, or rather a -law which implicitly prescribes the necessity of dissociating and -ruining the State in all its members.... Let us abandon the -Triumvirate of the Executive Power, by concentrating it in the person -of a President, and conferring on him a sufficient authority to -enable him to maintain himself and contend against the inconveniences -inherent in our recent situation." He taught valuable lessons in -public wisdom: "To form a stable Government we must have the basis of -a national spirit which has for its object a uniform inclination -towards two capital points: to moderate the general will and limit -the public authority. The blood of our fellow-citizens presents many -diversities: let us {76} mix it in order to unify it; our -constitution has divided its powers: let us confound them in order to -unite them.... We ought to induce immigration of the peoples of -North America and Europe, in order that they may settle here and -bring us their arts and sciences. These advantages, an independent -government, free schools, and intermarriage with Europeans and -Anglo-Americans, will totally change the character of the country, -and will render it well-informed and prosperous.... We lack -mechanics and agriculturists, and it is these that the country has -need of to ensure advancement and progress." In Bolivar's writings -are to be found the best programmes of political and social reform -for America; he was the first sociologist of these romantic -democracies. - -Carabobo and Junin were his great military triumphs; the letter from -Jamaica (1815), the constitutional project of Angostura (1819), the -statute of Bolivia (1825), and the Congress of Panama (1826) were his -most admirable political creations. To unite the American nations in -a permanent assembly; to oppose Anglo-Saxon power by Latin force, the -necessary factor of Continental equilibrium; to labour in favour of -unity and synthesis: such was the aim of the abortive Assembly of -Panama. The letter from Jamaica was a prophecy which the docile -reality was to accomplish during the century. "From the nature of -the different regions of the country, from the wealth, population, -and character of the Mexicans," said the Liberator, "I imagine that -they will attempt in the beginning to establish a representative -Republic in which the Executive will have very wide attributes and -will be concentred in a single person, who, if he governs with wisdom -and justice, will attain almost naturally to irremovable authority." -"If the preponderant party is military or aristocratic, it will be in -favour of a monarchy, which {77} will probably be limited and -constitutional in the first place, but will very soon become -absolute." The presidency of Porfirio Diaz, the empire of Iturbide -and Maximilian, supported by the monarchist party, and even the -dictatorship of Juarez, and the powers which the Mexican -constitutions have conferred on the head of the State, all confirmed -the predictions of Bolivar. "The States of the Isthmus of Panama as -far as Guatemala will form a federation." This federation existed -until 1842, and to-day the Central American republics are slowly -returning to it. Panama was for the Liberator the emporium of the -world. "Its canals will shorten the distances of the world, will -strengthen the ordinary ties between Europe, America, and Asia, and -will bring to this happy region the tribute of the four quarters of -the globe. There alone, perhaps, the capital of the world might be -set, as Constantine pretended to make of Byzantium the capital of the -ancient world." - -"New Granada will unite itself to Venezuela in order to form a -Central Republic, whose capital will be Maracaibo, or a new city, -which, under the name of Las Casas (in honour of that hero of -philanthropy), will spring up on the confines of the two countries, -on the superb harbour of Bahia-Honda." Bolivar kept Venezuela and -New Granada united until 1830; then new leaders, such as General -Mosquera, wished to establish the federation which even to-day is -still the object of the politicians of Ecuador, Venezuela, and -Colombia. "At Buenos-Ayres there will be a central government, in -which the military power will be supreme as a consequence of -intestine divisions and external war." This is a prophecy of -Argentine history up to the advent of Rosas, the struggles of the -_caudillos_, and the anarchy of 1820. "This constitution will -necessarily degenerate into an oligarchy or a monocracy." And a -plutocratic group did actually rule in Buenos-Ayres, {78} and over -all rose the monocracy of Rosas. "Chili is called by the nature of -her situation, by the simple customs of her virtuous inhabitants, and -the example of her neighbours, the proud Republicans of Araucania, to -enjoy the benefits of the just and mild laws of a republic. If any -republic lasts long in America I incline to think it will be the -Chilian.... Chili will not alter her laws, manners, or practices; -she will maintain the uniformity of her political and religious -opinions." The long stability of the Araucanian nation, the -homogeneity of its population, the lasting nature of its political -charter, the conservative character of its institutions, the slow and -steady development of Chili until the war of the Pacific and the -revolution of 1891, fully realised the prophecies of Bolivar. "Peru -includes two elements inimical to all just and liberal -government--gold and slavery. The first corrupts everything; the -second is corrupt in itself. The soul of a serf rarely succeeds in -taking liberty sanely. It rushes furiously into tumult, or lives -humiliated in chains. Although these rules are applicable to all -America, I believe they apply with most reason to Lima. There the -rich will not tolerate the democracy, and the slaves and the -liberated slaves will not tolerate the aristocracy; the first will -prefer the tyranny of a single person, in order to avoid popular -persecutions and to establish a rule that will at least be pacific." -The evolution of Peru proved the profound truth of this statement. -The oligarchy accepted military dictators, who upheld property and -preserved peace. As early as 1815, when America was still a Spanish -domain, Bolivar, watching the spectacle of social forces in conflict, -announced not merely the immediate struggles, but the secular -development of ten nations. He was a great prophet. To-day, a -century later, the continent is fulfilling his predictions as though -they were a fate strangely laid upon it. - -{79} - -At Angostura the Liberator placed before the Colombians a draft of a -constitution. The bases of this constitution were republican -government, the sovereignty of the people, the division of powers, -civil liberty, and the abolition of slavery and of privilege. In -this remarkable essay we find the theories of Montesquieu, Rousseau, -and Bentham, the realism of England and the democratic enthusiasm of -France. The legislative power is to be composed of two chambers: the -first popularly elected, and the Senate hereditary, according to the -English tradition, formed by the Liberators who would found the -nobility of America. The president is a kind of constitutional king; -his ministers, who are to be responsible, will govern. The judiciary -will acquire stability and independence. A new authority, the Moral -Power, completes the political structure. This Moral Power of the -Liberator's Republic is an imitation of the Athenian Areopagus and -the Roman censors: it is to be responsible for education and ensure -respect for morality and the law; "it chastises vice by opprobrium -and infamy, and rewards the public virtues by honour and glory." -Bolivar had a tendency towards moral and intellectual despotism: this -tribunal was to compel good behaviour. Later the Liberator condemned -the teachings of Bentham in the Universities of Colombia, and -accepted Catholicism as an instrument of the Government. Article 2 -of the Angostura draft states that "ingratitude, disrespect, and -disloyalty toward parents, husbands, the aged, the magistrates, and -citizens recognised and proclaimed as virtuous; the breaking of the -given word, in no matter what connection; insensibility before public -misfortunes or those affecting friends or immediate relations, are -recommended especially to the vigilance of this moral power." This -was paternal tyranny, exercised over the feelings, the conduct, and -the passions. - -{80} - -Bolivar created a republic--Upper Peru, which was to call itself -Bolivia in memory of its founder. He gave it the constitution he -wished, but in vain, to apply to Peru and Colombia. He developed -there the ideas expounded in the Angostura draft, and thereby defined -his ideal of a republic; it was, in fact, a monarchy in which the -power was hereditary. The president must be irremovable and -irresponsible, "for in systems without hierarchy there must be--more -than in others--a fixed point upon which magistrates and citizens, -men and things, may revolve." Against anarchy, a fixed magistracy; -against tyranny, independent powers; the judiciary elected by -Congress among the citizens nominated by the electoral colleges; the -legislature composed of three chambers: tribunes, senators, and -censors. The first exercise their functions for four years, the -second for eight, and the last are permanent, "and exercise a moral -and political control"; they constitute the "moral power." With this -system the Liberator avoided political anarchy and the destructive -ambition of the _caudillos_, constituting two stable forces in the -midst of shifting democracies--the censors and the permanent -president. He adapted unity and permanence--characteristics of the -constitutional monarchy--to republicanism. The generals quickly -realised that this constitution was a menace to them, and rose -against it in Bolivia, in Peru, and in Colombia. - -The founders of the Independence were surrounded by brilliant -leaders, such as O'Higgins, the Carreras, Güemes, La Mar, Santander, -Santa-Cruz, and Sucre, admirable as hero and statesman; but above -them, dominating them all like an oak in the midst of saplings, -according to the classic image, towered Bolivar, Liberator of -Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. - -[Illustration: BOLIVAR. The Liberator of Venezuela, New Granada, -Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. To face p. 80.] - -He was the genius of the South American Revolution. {81} He felt -himself dominated by "the dæmon of war." Like all great tormented -spirits since Socrates, he obeyed, in his impetuous campaigns, an -interior divinity. In his acts and his speeches, in his dignity and -his faith, there was a notable grandeur. He worked for eternity, -accumulating dreams and Utopias, dominating the hostile earth and -censorious man; he was the Superman of Nietzsche, the representative -man of Emerson. He belonged to the ideal family of Napoleon and -Cæsar; a sublime creator of nations; greater than San Martin, greater -than Washington. - - -II. From France, as emissaries of the ideal, came the doctrines of -the Revolution. In the Encyclopædia we find the intellectual origin -of the South American upheavals. The patricians in the archaic -colonial cities smiled upon Voltaire; they adopted the essential -ideals of Rousseau, the social contract, the sovereignty of the -people, and the optimism which conceded supreme rights to the human -spirit untainted by culture. Bolivar had read the _Contrat Social_ -in a volume that had formed part of the library of Napoleon; by will -he left this book to an intimate friend. The great, sounding -promises--democracy, sovereignty, human rights, equality, -liberalism--stirred the patriotic tribunes like fragments of a new -gospel. The masonic lodges worked in silence against the power of -Spain and Portugal, and upheld the humanitarian ideas of French -philosophy. In the lodge of Lautaro, San Martin and Alvear received -their initiation as revolutionaries. In Mexico the lodge of York was -transformed into a Jacobin club. In 1794 Antonio Nariño, the -forerunner of Colombian independence, translated the _Rights of Man_. -The Venezuelan Miranda fought in the revolutionary armies of France; -the Peruvian Pablo de Olavide, the friend of Voltaire, took part in -the Convention; {82} Raynal, Condorcet, and Mably had American -disciples. Montesquieu was read in the universities as an antidote -to the absolutism of the viceroys; Beccaria, Filangeri, and Adam -Smith were among the prophets. Not only did French thought -predominate, but the Revolution, the Terror, the Jacobin madness, the -eloquence of the Girondins, the dictatorship of the First Consul, and -the Empire, even, all exercised an immense influence upon the rising -democracies of America. Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico, imitated -Napoleon; in Buenos-Ayres there was a Directoire, as in Paris; there -were consuls in Paraguay, and Rivadavia was a Girondist lost among -the _gauchos_. - -To the aid of French theory came the example of North America; -Washington and the federal system served the Iberian statesmen as -models. Belgrano exalted the first President of the United States as -a hero "worthy of the admiration of our own age and of the -generations to come--an example of moderation and true patriotism." -He translated the _Farewell Address_, which was his favourite -reading. Bolivar wished to be the Washington of South America. One -of the forerunners of Brazilian independence, José Joaquin de Maia, -had known Jefferson in Paris, and informed him that "the Brazilians -considered the North American Revolution as the expression of their -desires, and they counted on the assistance of the United States." -The first South American constitutions betrayed this double -influence; they adopted the policy of federalism, copying the -political organisation of the United States, and were inspired by -French ideas. They destroyed the privileges of the nobility, and -established equality of caste. This was the case with the first -Venezuelan constitution, despite the efforts of Miranda and -Bolivar--opponents of federation. The Chilian constitution of 1822 -and the Peruvian constitution of {83} 1823 conferred a conservative -function upon the Senate, as in the North American Republic; and the -first Chilian statutes established federation. In Mexico and in -Central America the federal principle dominated the constitutions of -1824 and 1826. The Argentine constitution of 1819 was a copy "for -the united provinces of South America of the Declaration of -Independence of the United States." - -To French doctrines and the example of the United States we must add -the influence of English ideas. Miranda and Bolivar admired the -political constitution of Great Britain, and were inspired by it. -Bolivar, in 1818, recommended the study of this constitution: "You -will find therein," he said, "the division of powers, the only means -of creating free and independent spirits, and the liberty of the -press--that incomparable antidote to political abuses." His -enthusiasm for Voltaire and Rousseau was tempered by a study of -English methods. In his Angostura draft he recommended a permanent -Senate, a reproduction of the House of Lords. The British -Executive--the sovereign surrounded by responsible ministers--seemed -to him "the most perfect model, whether for a kingdom, or an -aristocracy, or a democracy." The Colombian Constitution of Cucuta -(1821), in which the political ideas of the Liberator were -predominant, merited the eulogy of the Marquis of Lansdowne. "It has -for its basis," said the English minister, "the two most just and -solid principles"--property and education. Miranda laid before Pitt -a constitutional essay inspired by British ideas, with a House of -Commons, an Upper Chamber composed of hereditary Inca _caciques_ and -censors; in which curious project we find American traditions mingled -with political forms borrowed from the English. - -Spain also contributed to the development of the revolutionary ideas. -She united the populations of {84} America under her crushing -authority; she combined in a single body all the disinherited castes -which were later to struggle for independence. - -"The despotic rigour of authority," wrote Bauza, "unites all these -heterogeneous elements with a rigid tie, and forms a race of -them."[3] The Napoleonic invasion provoked a reaction in the -peninsula: the _juntas_--provisional representations of -nationality--took the place of the captured king. The central -_junta_ proclaimed in 1808 that "the American provinces are not -colonies, but integral portions of the monarchy, equal in their -rights to the rest of the Spanish provinces." In 1810 the Regency -informed the American colonies: "Your fate depends upon neither -ministers nor viceroys nor governors: it is in your own hands." The -constitution of the Cortes of Cadiz (1812), at which the deputies of -the colonies were present, declared "that the Spanish Union cannot be -the patrimony of a person nor a family--that sovereignty resides -essentially in the nation--and that the right of making law belongs -to the Cortes and the king." In these documents, independence, -national sovereignty, the idea of the native country, and the -functions of the assemblies came overseas from the metropolis. The -struggles against privateers, against the English invasions of -Buenos-Ayres and the Dutch invasions of Brazil, and the influence of -the territory itself, created the sentiment of nationality in -America. French, English, and Spanish ideas fertilised this vague -aspiration. Before imposing themselves upon the universities and -assemblies these ideas became current in the journals and the -meetings of the _cabildo_ and revealed to the Creole oligarchy its -desire for independence. - -From 1808 to 1825 all things conspired to help the cause of American -liberty; revolutions in Europe, ministers in England, the -independence of {85} the United States, the excesses of Spanish -absolutism, the constitutional doctrines of Cadiz, the romantic faith -of the Liberators, the political ambition of the oligarchies, the -ideas of Rousseau and the Encyclopædists, the decadence of Spain, and -the hatred which all the classes and castes in America entertained -for the Inquisitors and the viceroys. So many forces united -engendered a sorry and divided world. The genesis of the southern -republics is rude and heroic as a _chanson de geste_. Then history -degenerates until it becomes a comedy of mean and petty interests--a -revolutionary orgy. Such was the evolution of South America during -the nineteenth century. - - -[1] Gil Fortoul, _Historia Constitucional de Venezuela_, Berlin, -1907, vol. i, p. 465. - -[2] _Historia de San Martin_, Buenos-Ayres, 1903, vol. i. p. 3. - -[3] _Historia de la Dominacion española en el Uruguay_, vol. ii. p. -647. - - - - -{86} - -CHAPTER IV - -MILITARY ANARCHY AND THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD - -Anarchy and dictatorship--The civil wars: their -significance--Characteristics of the industrial period. - - -Spencer observed the invariable succession of two periods in the -development of human affairs--the military and the industrial period. -Bagehot contrasted a primitive epoch of authority and a posterior -epoch of discussion. Sumner-Maine discovered a historic law--the -progress from status to contract; from the _régime_ imposed by -despotic governors to a flexible organisation accepted by free wills. -Thus, in three different formulæ, we may express the same principle -of evolution. In the beginning a warlike and theocratic authority -determines ritual, customs, dogma, and laws. The common conscience -is potent; individuality accepts without discussion or scepticism the -essential rules of social life. History is thereafter a struggle -between authority and liberty, a progressive affirmation of -autonomous wills, an assertion of destructive and censorious -individualism. - -In America political development presents the same successive phases. -Invariably we find the sequence of the two periods, one military and -one industrial or civil. The Independence realised, the rule of -militarism sets in throughout the republics. After a period of -uncertain duration the military caste is hurled from power, or -abdicates without violence, and economic interests become supreme. -Politics are {87} then ruled by "civilism." The military _régime_ is -not theocratic, as in some European monarchies; the President does -not combine the functions of religion and empire. None the less, the -civil period involves a fatal reaction against the Church--a period -of anti-clericalism or radicalism. The revolution is confined to a -change of oligarchies: the military group gives way to plutocracy. - -[Illustration: GENERAL JUAN JOSÉ FLORES. President of Ecuador -(1831-1835 and 1839-1843). To face p. 87.] - -As the generals of Alexander disputed, after his death, for the -provinces of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the remains of the imperial -feast, and founded new dynasties in the flood of Oriental decadence, -so the lieutenants of Bolivar dominated American life for a period of -fifty years. Flores in Ecuador, Paez in Venezuela, Santa-Cruz in -Bolivia, and Santander in Colombia, governed as the heirs of the -Liberator. So long as the shadow of the magnificent warrior lay upon -the destinies of America, so long the _caudillos_ triumphed, -consecrated by the choice of Bolivar. The monarchial principle was -thus forced upon unconscious humanity. The Liberator left America in -the hands of a dynasty. - -The wars of the peoples were therefore civil conflicts; the quarrels -of generals ambitious of hegemony. United in independence, united -during the colonial period, the new nations were divided, and stood -aside at the suggestion of these warriors; as Ecuador, Peru, and -Bolivia, in the name of Santa-Cruz or Gamarra, Castilla or Flores. -The national conscience was roughly shaped upon the field of battle. -The generals imposed arbitrary limits upon the peoples; they are the -creators in American history; they impress the crowds by their pomp -and pageantry; by military displays as brilliant as the gaudy -processions of the Catholic cult; by magnificent escorts and -decorations and forms of etiquette; they call themselves -Regenerators, Restorers, Protectors. - -{88} - -This first period is troublous, but full of colour, energy, and -violence. The individual acquires an extraordinary prestige, as in -the time of the Tuscan Renaissance, the French Terror, or the English -Revolution. The rude and bloodstained hand of the _caudillo_ forces -the amorphous masses into durable moulds. South America is ruled by -ignorant soldiers: the evolution of her republics must therefore be -uncertain. There is, therefore, no history properly so called, for -it has no continuity; there is a perpetual _ricorso_ brought about by -successive revolutions; the same men appear with the same promises -and the same methods. The political comedy is repeated periodically: -a revolution, a dictator, a programme of national restoration. -Anarchy and militarism are the universal forms of political -development. - -As in European revolutions, anarchy leads to dictatorship; and this -provokes immediate counter-revolution. From spontaneous disorder we -pass to a formidable tutelage. The example of France is repeated on -a new stage; the anarchy of the Convention announces the autocracy of -Bonaparte. The dictators, like the kings of feudalism, defeat the -local _caciques_, the provincial generals; thus did Porfirio Diaz, -Garcia Moreno, Guzman-Blanco, &c. And revolution follows revolution -until the advent of the destined tyrant, who dominates the life of -the nation for twenty or thirty years. - -Material progress is the work of the autocracy; as witness the rule -of Rosas, Guzman-Blanco, Portales, and Diaz. The great _caudillos_ -will have nothing to do with abstractions; their realistic minds urge -them to encourage commerce and industry, immigration and agriculture. -By imposing long periods of peace they favour the development of -economic forces. - -In matters political and economic the dictators profess Americanism. -They represent the new mixed {89} race, tradition, and the soil. -They are hostile to the rule of the Roman Church, of European -capital, and of foreign diplomacy. Their essential function, like -that of the modern kings after feudalism, is to level mankind and -unite the various castes. Tyrants found democracies; they lean on -the support of the people, the half-breeds and negroes, against the -oligarchies; they dominate the colonial nobility, favour the crossing -of races, and free the slaves. - -[Illustration: ARTIGAS. Liberator of Uraguay. To face p. 89.] - -Anarchy is spontaneous, like that which Taine discovered in the -Jacobin Revolution. There is a movement hostile to organisation, to -civilisation: thus Artigas fought at once against the King of Spain, -the Argentine Revolution, and the Portuguese. He would have no -subjection; he was a patriot to the death. Güemes fought against -Spaniards and Argentines. The _caudillos_ are like chiefs of -barbarian tribes; they uphold local autonomy, division, and chaos. -Sarmiento compares Lopez, Ibarra, and Quiroga, violent chieftains of -the Argentine sierra and pampa, to Genghis Khan or Tamerlane. -"Individualism," he says, "is their essence; the horse their only -arm; the pampa their theatre." The _montoneras_ are Tartar hordes, -burned by the sun--a wild, devastating force. Their leaders -represent the genius of the continent; they have the rudeness, the -fatality of natural forces. Like Igdrasil, the fantastic tree of -Scandinavian mythology, they send their roots deep into the earth, -into the obscure kingdom of the dead. - -The general ideas of this period are simple. There is a faith in the -efficacy of political constitutions, and these are multiplied; men -aspire to ideological perfection. They believe in the omnipotence of -congresses, and distrust the Government. Constitutions separate the -powers and enfeeble the executive, rendering it ephemeral; they -divide authority by creating triumvirates, consulates, and -governmental {90} _juntas_. The liberalism of the charters is -notable. They usually establish three powers, according to the -traditional rule of Montesquieu, in order to ensure political -equilibrium; they recognise all the theoretical liberties--liberty of -the press, of assembly, the rights of property, and industrial and -commercial liberty. They accept trial by jury, popular petition, -universal suffrage--in short, the whole republican ideal. They -consecrate a State religion, Catholicism, thus paving the way for -religious revolutions, and all the "Red and Black" revolts and -conspiracies of South American history. Election is in some -republics direct; in others by the second degree, by means of -electoral colleges which appoint the president and the members of the -legislative chambers. From North to South institutions are -democratic; they bestow political rights with a generous profusion. -The judicial power is independent, sometimes elected by the people, -generally by congress. The judges are often dependent on the -executive. Justice and the law are ineffectual. The president -cannot be re-elected. - -These constitutions imitate those of France and the United States in -the democratic tendencies of the one and the federalism of the other; -they are charters of a generous and hybrid species. The presidential -_régime_ exists in reality as in the United States; the parliaments -are important in virtue of the constitution, but in actual political -life are powerless in face of the pressure exercised by the military -chiefs. The theory of the social pact and the ideology of the -revolutionary are predominant in public speech. - -The motives of the civil wars vary. In Ecuador men fight for the -_caudillos_; in Colombia, for ideas; in Chili, for or against the -oligarchy. All the national forces are involved in these wars. -Revolution is the common heritage of these nations. The races which -peopled America were warrior races, {91} both Indians and Spaniards, -and their warlike spirit explains the disorder of the republics. -Castes and traditions are inimical: the psychological instability -characteristic of primitive peoples wars upon discipline and -authority. - -Two social classes--the military class and the intellectual or -university class--had been in opposition since the origin of the -Republic. They disputed the supreme power, or sometimes the -intellectuals sided with the generals. The "doctors," by aid of -reasonings of Byzantine subtlety, justified the dictatorships as well -as the Revolution. A Venezuelan deputy, Coto-Paul, in 1811, -pronounced a lyrical eulogy of anarchy. - -The generals distrusted the lawyers, who represented the intellectual -tradition of the colony: Paez hated the juriconsults as Napoleon -hated ideologists. And the "doctors," vanquished by the military -power, became the docile secretaries of generals and _caudillos_; -they drafted laws and constitutions, and expressed in polished -formulæ the rude intentions of the chiefs. To the violence of these -latter they opposed subtlety; to the ignorance of despots, the -scholastic ease and knowledge acquired in the universities of Spain. - -To the struggles of classes was added the war of races; the -half-breeds fought against the national oligarchy; the new American -class was hostile to the aristocracy of the capitals. The Indians -lived in the towns of the interior, in which the colonial isolation -was unchanged; the metropolis--Buenos-Ayres, Lima, or Caracas--was -still Spanish and increasingly alien. On the coast, where feeling -was more mobile and will more variable, the ideas of reform took -root; exotic ideas and customs were introduced; while the Sierra,[1] -more American than the coast, remained slow and gloomy, and ignorant -{92} of the brilliant unrest of the capitals. Thus a triple movement -came into being; inferior castes rose against the colonial -aristocracy, the provinces against the all-absorbing metropolis, and -the half-caste Sierra against the cosmopolitan seaboard. - -The provinces desired autonomy; the capitals, monopoly and unity; the -metropolis was liberal, the Sierra conservative. The political -conflict might know a change of names, but this antagonism was -universal. The leaders disguised their deep-seated ambitions under a -cloak of general ideas; they supported unity or federation, the -military or the civil _régime_, Catholicism or radicalism. In -Argentina the provinces fought against the capital; in Venezuela the -coloured middle class against the oligarchies; in Chili the liberals -against the _pelucones_, the proprietors of the soil; in Mexico the -federals fought the monarchists; in Ecuador the radicals opposed the -conservatives; in Peru the conflict was between the "civilists" and -military _caudillos_. In the diversity of these quarrels we see one -essential principle: two classes were in conflict--the proprietors of -the _latifundia_ and the poverty-stricken people, the Spaniards and -the half-breeds, or the oligarchs and generals of a barbarous -democracy. - -In each republic the soil and the traditions of the country gave a -different colour to the universal warfare. In the Argentine the -provinces, under viceroys and intendants, enjoyed a partial autonomy; -there federalism had remote antecedents. Unity seemed an imposition -on the part of Buenos-Ayres, which possessed the treasury and the -custom-houses of the nation, and monopolised the national credit and -revenue. In Chili, the long, narrow country, with the Cordillera at -the back, like a granite wall, naturally evoked a Unitarian republic. -The disputes between centralisation and federalism were soon over. -{93} Unity was possible in Peru, a brilliant sub-kingdom, the centre -of a long-established and powerful authority. But some aspects of -these violent struggles remain obscure. In Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, -and Mexico there was enmity between the coast and the Sierra. Lima -and Caracas were capitals near the seaboard; Mexico and Quito were -far removed from it. Yet in Peru the struggle was civil and -military; in Ecuador, conservative and liberal; and in Mexico, -federal and central. Why do we not find the religious struggles, -which lasted so long in Colombia, in Bolivia and the Argentine? To -explain this diversity we must study the psychology of the different -_conquistadors_--Castilian, Biscayan, Andalusian, Portuguese--and of -the different subjected races: the Quechuas, Araucanians, Chibchas, -Aztecs, and the proportion in which they were mingled; for the action -of the territory itself upon the various admixtures of blood would -vary as it was tropical or temperate, coast or Sierra. - -The confusion of the struggles in some democracies was extreme. The -oligarchs were not always conservatives, nor the half-breeds always -liberal. There were reactionary autocracies, like that of Portales -in Chili, and liberal autocracies like that of Guzman-Blanco in -Venezuela. The federals were usually democrats and liberals, but -they were occasionally conservative and autocratic. The democrats of -Peru were reactionary in matters of religion; those of Chili were -radical. The civil _régime_ was conservative in Bolivia under -Baptista and in Ecuador under Garcia-Moreno, but liberal in Mexico -under Juarez and Chili under Santa-Maria and Balmaceda. Militarism -was radical under Lopez in Colombia, but conservative under General -Castilla in Peru. When political evolution followed its logical -development, federalism, liberalism, and democracy formed a trilogy, -and oligarchy was conservative and Unitarian. - -{94} - -Revolutions, in opposing castes and uplifting the half-breed, -prepared the way for a new period. But a democratic society cannot -easily establish itself in the face of the established aristocracies, -and slavery still survived, although softened by liberal -institutions. The military class, accessible to all, replaced the -old nobility. Confusion of races commenced as early as 1850, when -generous laws enfranchised the negroes, and new economic interests -arose to complicate these democratic societies. Revolutions, -dictatorships, and anarchy were the necessary aspects of the -dissolution of the old society. - -The age of generals gave way to an industrial period in which wealth -increased, industries became more complex and numerous, and labour -was subdivided, while association became more usual both in commerce -and agriculture. Co-operation, organisation, and solidarity, unknown -during the period of anarchy, were aspects of an intense economic -development. The interests newly created sought for peace, and the -internal order which favoured their expansion. - -Politics commenced to eschew and disdain the squabbles of ideology, -and constitutional liberties acquired precision and efficacy. -Plutocracies came into being, and aspired to government in place of -internal revolution and external warfare; immigration, transforming -the social classification, facilitated their advent. National -progress was effected despite the governments; it was an anonymous -and collective task. The energetic individualities of the military -epoch were followed by the laborious crowd. The _caudillo_ receded -to the background of politics; the captains of industry replaced him, -the merchants and the bankers. Courage was once the supreme -criterion of the man; now wealth is the touchstone by which -individuals and peoples are judged. The table of human values -changes; instruction, {95} foresight, and practical common sense -determine success in an industrial democracy. In the social -ascension of the generations which industry and commerce have thrown -forward to the attack upon the old patrician society, the prejudices -of class and religion grow feebler, and after a century of conflict -the nations of the present day emerge. - -In the southern republics of America industrialism is supreme in the -Argentine, Uruguay, and Chili; even in tropical Brazil. In Bolivia -and Peru the last leaders are not yet dead, the parties are still -personal, but their influence is not as decisive as it was thirty -years ago. Among the northern peoples, from Mexico to Ecuador, -anarchy and _caudillism_ still survive; there political unrest has -not yet been dominated by the principle of authority. The long -dictatorship of General Castro and certain Central American -presidents proves that the dictatorial _régime_ is the only form of -government that is able to maintain peace in these countries. - -It is hardly possible to determine the "historical moment" at which -these republics passed from the military to the industrial system. -The twilight of the _caudillos_ was a long one. Even in the -Argentine, where the economic life is magnificent and complex, their -influence persists. In Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil there exists a -latent militarism which might quickly destroy the work of the civil -presidents. For ten years in Peru and Uruguay and Bolivia government -has followed government without revolutionary violence, but can we -say that the anarchy of fifty years has disappeared for ever? The -political order is slowly becoming assured, and the relation between -wealth and the increase of immigration and of peace is obvious. Even -in the industrial field evolution is the work of a few _caudillos_ -who have been pacificators: General Pando in Bolivia, General Roca in -the Argentine, Pierola in Peru, and Battle {96} y Ordonez in Uruguay, -not to speak of the greatest of all, Porfirio Diaz. - -Economically speaking this period of development material is superior -to the first period of sterile revolution; it is superior also from -the political point of view, for institutions have been perfected and -their constitutional action has defined itself. The municipalities -and the legislative power have acquired a relative autonomy; they -have been victorious over the executive, which was omnipotent during -the military period. In beauty and intensity, however, the prosaic -age of industrialism has been inferior to the preceding period. Of -old, vigorous personalities rose above the common level, and history -had the vitality of a tragedy; men played with destiny and with death -as in the time of the Italian renaissance. "Tyranny," writes -Burckhardt, "in the ancient Latin republics, commenced by developing -to the highest degree the individuality of the sovereign, of the -condottiere." He then demonstrates the equally personal character of -the statesmen and popular tribunes of Florentine history.[2] This -analysis is applicable to the American leaders. Heroic audacity and -perpetual and virile unrest characterise the struggles of the -_caciques_. The military cycle closed, the republics lose this -dramatic interest. Instead of describing the history of governments -we must study the economic evolution of nations, and their statistics -of industry and commerce. In tragedy the chorus, the crowd, becomes -the essential person; it judges and executes, it is spectator and -creator, while the heroes of old, the conquerors of destiny and -founders of cities, disappear in the mists of the past. - -To these political changes correspond changes in manners and customs; -the cities, too, have changed {97} and have lost their archaic -character. The cosmopolitan invasion has resulted in a brilliant -monotony, and interest has become the sole motive of action; -permanent war is followed by peace _à outrance_; the republics have -gained in wealth and mediocrity. It is a period of transition: we -cannot yet distinguish the firm lineaments of the future State. - -Will the Argentine and Brazil become great plutocratic States like -the United States? Will Chili, which is copying the social -organisation of England, be subjected, like the Anglo-Saxon Empire, -to the attacks of demagogy? The spectacle of these enriched nations -permits us to affirm only that in revolutionary America four nations, -the Argentine, Brazil, Uruguay, and Chili, will, before the lapse of -a century, be definitively organised as republics. - -Yet these States still betray old racial characteristics. - -"The dead found the race," writes M. Gustave Le Bon. "The dead -generations impose on us not only their physical constitution but -also their thoughts. Forms of government matter little."[3] In the -democracies of Latin America the "fundamental revolution" of which -politicians boast has been sterile; under the republican mask the -Spanish heredity survives, deep-rooted and secular. The forms vary -but the soul of the race remains the same. President-autocrats -replace the vice-kings; the old struggles between the governors of -the State and the bishops persist, for patronage in ecclesiastical -affairs, the prestige of the "doctors," and academic titles. - -The ruling caste, the heir to the prejudices of Spain, despises -industry and commerce, and lives for politics and its futile -agitations. The territorial seigneurs still have the upper hand as -before the {98} Revolution. The ancient _latifundia_ still survive, -the great domains which explain the power of the oligarchy. -Assemblies exercise a secondary function, as the municipal _cabildos_ -of old. Catholicism is still the axis of social life. The _picaros_ -of Spanish romance, haughty and ingenious parasites, are still -accepted at their own value. The bureaucracy swallows up the wealth -of the exchequer; it was formed a century ago of voracious -Castilians; to-day it consists of Americans devoid of will. Despite -the equality proclaimed by the constitutions the Indian is subjected -to the implacable tyranny of the local authorities, the curé, the -justice of peace, and the _cacique_. Under other names the little -despots of the Spanish period are still alive and active. - -The democracies of South America, then, are Spanish, although the -_élite_ has always been inspired by French ideas. Democracies by -proclamation and in their anarchy, equalitarian and of mixed blood, -the individual often acquires a heroic significance like that of the -supermen of Carlyle; mediæval republics divided into irreducible -families and factions, governed by enriched merchants; Greek -republics, hostile to their own leaders, jealous of the virtue of -Aristides and the wisdom of Themistocles, but without the -plebiscitary ardour of the Hellenic community. - - -[1] The cold region of lofty table-lands. - -[2] _La Civilisation en Italie au temps de la Renaissance_, Paris, -1885, vol. i. pp. 165 _et seq_. - -[3] _Les lois psychologiques de l'Evolution des peuples_, Paris, -1900, pp. 13 and 71. - - - - -{99} - -BOOK II - -_THE CAUDILLOS AND THE DEMOCRACY_ - -The history of the South American Republics may be reduced to the -biographies of their representative men. The national spirit is -concentred in the _caudillos_: absolute chieftains, beneficent -tyrants. They rule by virtue of personal valour and repute, and an -aggressive audacity. They resemble the democracies by which they are -deified. Without studying the biographies of Paez, Castilla, -Santa-Cruz, and Lavalleja, it is impossible to understand the -evolution of Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay. - - - - -{101} - -CHAPTER I - -VENEZUELA: PAEZ, GUZMAN-BLANCO - -The moral authority of Paez--The Monagas--The tyranny of -Guzman-Blanco--Material progress. - - -Two central figures, Paez and Guzman-Blanco, dominate the history of -Venezuela. The first founded a republic in spite of the Unitarian -aims of Bolivar; the second established a long autocracy over the -factions and the quarrels of half a century. - -Paez was an individualist, a nomadic leader, an impassioned champion -of the district, of the native country, as against any vast political -concentration. As the Argentine pampa gave birth to Quiroga, and the -Arabian desert engendered the mystic adventure of the Khalifs, so the -_llanos_ of Venezuela created Paez. - -Among the haughty _llaneros_ of Apure he grew to be a horseman, a -lover of the infinite plains, the leader of a nameless troop, the -hero of a host of adventures, romantic or brutal. He was born in -1790. He was a half-breed, representing the indigenous forces in -conflict with the Spanish oligarchy and the Creole aristocracy. A -democrat of the school of Castilla and Rosas, robust and audacious, -with the perspicacity of the Indian and the pride of a tribal -chieftain, he cared only to lead armies. He detested "literary -people," "judges," and ideologues. A lieutenant of the Liberator's, -he was with him in a hundred battles, but he loathed all discipline, -{102} and his incipient insubordination in 18 18 diminished the -success of Bolivar. His pride revolted against all tutelage, even -when this was just. At times he wished Bolivar to be an absolute -chieftain, an invulnerable monarch; at other times he rebelled -against him. In 1819 he led the patriots of the llanos to victory; -he obtained power and honours but was always notably insubordinate. -In 1821 he opposed the order of enrolment issued by Santander, the -Vice-President of Colombia. The municipality of Caracas shared his -desire for autonomy, and Venezuela followed the leader who -represented the national instincts. Bolivar intervened to enforce -the unity of Colombia and gave way to Paez. In 1826 the latter -counselled the Liberator to assume the crown. - -The fusion of the peoples, unity as against discord, was the Bolivian -ideal. At this time the spirit of nationality was working obscurely, -and spontaneous republics were springing up. The race, exhausted by -its long tutelage, uneasily sought subdivision, thinking thereby to -gain autonomy; Paez, profoundly American, followed the stream and -exiled Bolivar. He broke up the Colombian unity, as Santander in New -Granada and Flores in Ecuador, and liberated his country in 1830. -The nomad _guerrillero_ had then to organise the country, to give it -stability and continuity; his supple nature adapted itself to his new -duties. By instinct (writes an eminent historian, Gil Fortoul) he -inclined to play the part of certain constitutional kings, leaving -the government to his ministers. Without denying his democratic -past, he frequented the society of the literate and the oligarchs. -His presidency (1831-1835) resulted in domestic peace, strict order -in matters financial, political conciliation, and economic progress. - -Dr. Vargas, an enemy of militarism, succeeded {103} him, but the -brothers José Tadeo and José Gregorio Monagas, who had risen against -Paez in 1831, renewed their attempt in 1835. The weak, irresolute -President appointed Paez commander-in-chief of the army, while the -revolutionists of Caracas proclaimed him supreme ruler. His immense -moral force loomed paternally above the squabbles of the parties; he -became the arbiter of Venezuelan quarrels. - -He upheld the constitution and the presidency of Vargas, but the -latter could not retain supreme power and abandon the reins of -government to the hands of the vice-president. The chieftain of the -plains was elected for a second presidential period in 1838. -Militarism declined under his rule, foreign credit increased, the -payment of the debt was assured, and orderly progress was effected. -In 1843 his loyal friend, General Carlos Soublette, a republican of -the antique mould, austere and liberal, was his successor. Once more -the omnipotence of Paez was triumphant. - -The political tranquillity of these two periods masked a social -transformation. Venezuela was not a democratic republic; it was, -like Chili, ruled by an oligarchy. The Constitution of 1830 -conferred the enjoyment of political rights only upon the -land-owners, property-owners, and government employés; as in the -southern nation the territorial overlords ruled, and slavery -persisted. The "doctors" belonged to the dominant group. The -oligarchs were conservatives; they defended property, order, and -wealth against militarism and demagogy. They recognised no State -religion, nor did they practise intolerance. - -In 1840 a liberal reaction set in against the dictatorship of Paez -and the conservative clan; democratic institutions and "new men" were -called for. It was a struggle of classes and races. The obscure -mass--_pardos_ (mulattos), mestizos, proletariats--subjected {104} to -slavery or servitude, oppressed by the privileged, hybrid and -anarchical--attacked the established ruling caste. Thus political -unrest was complicated by social conflict. Antonio Leocadio Guzman, -a brilliant demagogue, comprehending the liberal ambitions of the -crowd, founded a popular party upon the hatred of hierarchies and -traditions. A tribune and journalist, he violently attacked Paez, -Soublette, and their ministers; he offered the people the abolition -of slavery and the repartition of the soil, with the violence of all -the creators of democracies, from Tiberius Gracchus to Lloyd George. -He was presidential candidate in 1846; Paez supported General Tadeo -Monagas, a gloomy personage who represented the oligarchy. The -supporters of Guzman rebelled against the influence of Soublette and -the tutelage of the great _llanero_, and a social revolution -commenced under the mask of a political quarrel. The Liberals wished -to overthrow the "Gothic oligarchy." Guzman was made prisoner. He -was judged as were the tribunes of antiquity who terrified the -patrician class by the tumult of a hungry democracy. Condemned to -death as a conspirator and anarchist, he saw his punishment commuted -to banishment. - -[Illustration: GENERAL JOSÉ TADEO MONAGAS. President of Venezuela -(1846-1850 and 1855-1859). To face p. 104.] - -The conservatives had won; the evolution of democracy was checked, -thanks to the advent of certain crude demagogues. As in Chili, a -moderate liberalism was germinating in the heart of the conservative -group itself. Until 1861 the oligarchical constitution of 1830 was -maintained, as in Chili the analogous constitution of 1833 persisted, -in all its rigidity, until 1891. The liberals could hardly be -distinguished from the conservatives; the democratic Guzman himself -accepted slavery. There was not, therefore, any violent war of -castes, but rather a slow infiltration of liberal principles in the -substance of the aristocratic class. The man of this {105} period of -transition was President Monagas. He governed with liberals and -conservatives, and founded a personal system. The Congress wished to -impeach him, but the people defended him against the Congress. The -independent Assembly was dissolved, amidst bloodshed and the bodies -of the slain, on the tragic 24th of January, 1848, and the Executive -was triumphant. The rule of oligarchies was followed by personalism -or autocracy. Monagas struggled against Paez; these two predominant -influences could not co-exist. The old _caudillo_ took the head of a -revolution; he was defeated, and, like Guzman, exiled. Curious -analogy between the fate of the chieftain of the oligarchy and that -of the leader of the democrats! - -José Tadeo Monagas was replaced by his brother José Gregorio. The -pair formed a strange species of dynasty in which inheritance was -collateral. Guzman having again lost the presidency, his supporters -and those of Paez rebelled against the government in 1853 and 1854; -but the government was victorious, and in 1854 liberated the slaves. -Better than the apostrophes of the popular tribune this radical -measure prepared the way for the advent of the democrats. After José -Gregorio Monagas his brother José Tadeo became President in 1855. A -new Constitution of 1857, centralistic in tendency, permitted the -re-election of presidents, and Monagas remained in power. General -Castro defeated him at the head of a coalition of all parties. The -old political groups were reorganised; the struggles between -federalists and centralists recommenced; and the decline of the -oligarchies saw the advance of democracy. The Convention of Valencia -(1858) promulgated a liberal constitution, which established the -autonomy of the provinces under governors and congresses of their -own; the electoral capacity, restricted by the old statute, was -enlarged; the jury {106} system was established; and the Executive -was weakened, with an eye to the personalism of Monagas. A civil war -in which federals, liberals, centralists, conservatives, -constitutionalists, and ideologists were mingled in motley assemblies -disturbed the country. The battles lacked the simplicity of the old -directorates, the rigidity of the old hierarchies. The democracy -lamentably increased; the liberal factions were seized with an -equalitarian frenzy. Their leaders--Falcon, Zamora--were demagogues -on horseback. At the spectacle of this barbarism Paez, returning in -1861 from the United States, restored reaction and autocracy. On -September 10th he proclaimed himself supreme chief in the face of the -federal power; an octogenarian, he gathered all the powers of the -State into his trembling hand; a melancholy symbol of the oligarchy, -exhausted in its struggle against the invading democracy. In vain -did he issue tyrannical decrees; he could not prevent the triumph of -federation. At Coche, Guzman-Blanco, general of the federal forces, -negotiated with Rojas, the omnipotent secretary of Paez, an agreement -which put an end to the tottering dictatorship. The action of the -founder of Venezuela, "the man of the plains," representing the -conservative aristocracy, was over. He died in 1873, when his work -of a half-century was about to be continued, under another form, by -the great _caudillo_ Antonio Guzman-Blanco. - -He was the son of Antonio Leocadio Guzman, leader of the liberal -party. He had travelled in the United States, was a diplomatist, and -had followed a course of study in the law, and on his return to -Venezuela had directed military operations during the revolt against -Paez. He had the gifts of the military leader; he skilfully -organised attack and retreat in that difficult warfare of many -factions amidst the plains; he revealed himself as a heroic leader of -men, dashing and persevering. In 1862 {107} he attained the rank of -General-in-Chief of the Army. The General Assembly elected him -vice-president of the Republic, under the presidency of Falcon, after -the agreement of Coche. Guzman-Blanco then contracted a loan of one -and a half million pounds in London, where Venezuelan credit was -ruined. It was necessary to restore the public finances after the -long crisis of the revolution. The operation was onerous, and the -liberal leader was criticised. However, the Venezuelan Congress -awarded him a prize in the form of an award of money. - -In 1865 and 1866, during the absences of President Falcon, he -exercised command with admirable political tact, introducing severe -financial economies, regularising the debt, and suppressing sinecures -and pensions. In the political world, despite the triumph of the -federals, he demanded the reinforcement of the central power, as -against the anarchy of the autonomous provinces. In fact, a new -constitution, extremely liberal, which was promulgated by the -Assembly in 1864, had conceded an excessive degree of independence -upon the provinces. - -A revolution overthrew the federal President, and the conservative -malcontents restored José Tadeo Monagas. Anarchy continued, and -Guzman-Blanco intervened to repress partial revolts, to counsel -political tolerance, and to negotiate abroad the unification of the -public debt; he had inherited the moral power from Paez. Monagas -wished to draw him into his party, and offered him the succession of -the presidency. The struggle increased in intensity; the "Blues" of -Monagas, as in Byzantium, defied the "Yellows" of Guzman-Blanco. The -civil war lasted five years. The country seeking stability, even if -it involved autocracy, José Ruperto Monagas succeeded to his father -and the monarchical policy was again attempted. The chief of the -federals was the enemy of the President, who exiled him, after a -{108} nocturnal attack upon his house, on the 14th of August, 1869. - -Guzman arrived in Curaçoa, and in September openly commenced to work -for revolution. Monagas was anxious to compromise, and willing to -agree to one of those conventions so frequent in Venezuelan history; -but the _caudillo_ imposed hard conditions. His father, the -demagogue and tribune, accompanied him as journalist. After -indecisive battles the Revolution triumphed in Caracas (April, 1870), -and Guzman-Blanco assumed the dictatorship. The autocratic _régime_ -accepted neither conciliation with the vanquished nor legal -artifices; the figure of the Imperator looms above the passive crowd, -a defence against federal disorganisation, economic waste, and -incessant anarchy. The liberal leader attacked his adversaries -energetically, directed battles, performing prodigies of strategy at -Valencia and Apure. The "blues" recoiled, successively losing -Valencia, Trujillo, and Maracaibo. General Matias Salazar, the -seditious liberal chief, a friend of the dictator, was shot. Like -Porfirio Diaz, the Venezuelan autocrat checkmated anarchy by -decapitating its generals. Exile, battles, and confiscation of goods -prepared the way for lasting peace. Two years the civil war lasted, -and in 1872 Guzman-Blanco, a beneficent despot, commenced the -material transformation of the country. He knew men, he had the gift -of command; his decision was irresistible, his character of steel. -He reduced import duties, and abolished export duties, founded a -banking company which issued bonds guaranteed by the Government, and -amortised the public debt. While introducing strict economies he -attacked his political enemies with forced loans and special -contributions. In the political arena he unhesitatingly repressed -the revolts of the Blues and would grant them no amnesty; he exiled -the archbishop because he refused to {109} celebrate the triumph of -the liberal Revolution by a _Te Deum_. The dictator was nationalist -as against foreign pressure and threats; he aspired to the -reconstitution of Venezuela, in matters domestic and foreign, despite -the anarchy of the factions and the manoeuvres of European -stockjobbers. Diplomatic conflicts arose with the United States, -Holland, England, and the Papacy. - -Guzman-Blanco favoured education; he wished to see "a school in every -street." He reformed the civil and penal codes, and established -marriage and civil registers. In 1873 he renounced the dictatorship -before Congress, but the latter elected him President, and accorded -him supreme honours. Statues and streets and medals bore his name; -he was given the pompous titles of "Illustrious American" and -"Regenerator of Venezuela"; nothing could be refused him by the -servile and extravagant deputies. His statue, erected in Caracas in -1875, near that of Bolivar, glorified the Regenerator equally with -the Liberator. The popular dictator satisfied the ambitions of all; -he brought the peace desired by the oligarchs, he was the idol of the -crowds, and he attacked the Church like the liberals and free-masons. - -From 1870 to 1877 the Government fostered material development by -means of the construction of railways and highways, public buildings -in the large towns, and the transformation and embellishment of -Caracas. It was said that the Dictator wished to imitate Napoleon -III. by opening up promenades and avenues. Credit prospered, the -service of the debt was assured, the public revenues increased, -orderly and economical budgets were established, and statistics -organised. The President reinforced and disciplined the army, and -intervened in the politics of the states, in defiance of federalism. -He endeavoured to found a Venezuelan Church, with {110} a liberal -archbishop and clergy elected by the faithful; he suppressed -religious congregations and converted their goods into national -property. His autocracy did not respect the powers of the outer -world; he stimulated industries by a strict protectionism. An -admirer of French art, he established museums in Venezuela. - -In 1877 General Alcantara succeeded him. Guzman-Blanco stated in his -message, reviewing his seven years' work, that he left behind him -peace, administrative and political organisation, external credit, -liberty of the vote, and "the triumph of the dignity and the rights -of the Nation." He was acclaimed to the verge of apotheosis. He -left for Europe, and in his absence the statues of the dictator were -overthrown and his decrees annulled by those who had conferred such -honours upon him. Democracy, unstable and feminine, burned what she -had adored. Guzman-Blanco returned to Venezuela in 1878, devoured -with dictatorial ambitions. He had sought in Paris to found a -company which, like the East Indian and African companies of England, -should transform his country. He longed for the power he had -abandoned to an ungrateful mob. Upon his arrival a favouring -revolution welcomed him, the state of Carabobo proclaimed him -Dictator, and ten other states followed suit. The revolutionaries -triumphed, and those who had overthrown his statues and reversed his -statutes now praised him to the skies. Guzman-Blanco proposed to -reform the Constitution; the Swiss federation was his political -model. He reduced the number of states in Venezuela, and despoiled -the Executive of many attributes, which he confided to a Federal -Council. The Province approved the "Swiss" Constitution of 1882. - -The "Illustrious American" then returned to France to realise a -financial plan which was to {111} transform his country, and to -conclude a contract with the great Jew bankers. He formed a -privileged company which was to exploit the country, obtain -concessions of land, and organise what financiers call the _mise en -valeur_ of new territories. The Constitution promulgated, -Guzman-Blanco was elected President of the General Council. In 1882 -he expounded to Congress the benefits of his autocracy: material -development, budgetary surpluses, extended cultivation, and political -stability. - -Until 1886 Guzman-Blanco was President of the Venezuelan democracy, -or its minister in European capitals. His power was absolute; he -imposed new leaders, left the country, returned; he was the Protector -of the Republic. From the enchanted banks of the Seine he directed -the febrile development of Venezuela. Like Porfirio Diaz in Mexico -and Rosas in the Argentine he conquered all other leaders, imposed -peace, organised and unified, and ruled by terror or by sentiment. A -_caudillo_ without definite political ideas, he loved power and his -native country. State, Church, parties, and national riches, all -were his; they were the domains of this feudal baron. His enemies -accused him of enriching himself at the expense of the national -property, but his work in the material world was fruitful; he built -roads, erected buildings, and stimulated the development of the -national fortune. In matters of policy he affirmed the inviolability -of the country against foreign aggression; he was a democrat as -against the conservatives. He loved pomp and triumph, sumptuous -external shows, sonorous phrases, and the servile adoration of the -crowd. - -He had an enormous faith in his own work. In 1883 he stated that -Venezuela, under his authority, "had undertaken an infinite voyage -towards an infinite future." His dictatorship appeared to him as -necessary, providential: "the people insist upon {112} it so that we -may be saved from anarchy." He aimed at "the regeneration of the -country"; and his was the responsibility for this work; but the -greatness also was his. "I have never followed the thought of any -but myself," he said. Indeed, we may apply to him the classic phrase -descriptive of absolutism: "_L'Etat c'est moi_."[1] - - -[1] _En defensa del Septenio_, Paris, 1878, p. 29. - - - - -{113} - -CHAPTER II - -PERU: GENERAL CASTILLA--MANUEL PARDO--PIEROLA - -The political work of General Castilla--Domestic peace--The deposits -of guano and saltpetre--Manuel Pardo, founder of the anti-military -party--The last _caudillo_, Pierola: his reforms. - - -The gestation of the Republic of Peru was a lengthy process. The -vice-kingdom defended itself against Colombian, Peruvian, and -Argentine troops: against the armies of Bolivar and San Martin. Here -the _penates_ of Spain were preserved: the treasure, the vigilant -aristocracy, the warlike armies. It was not until 1824, when America -was already independent, that the victory of Ayacucho liberated Peru -from the Spanish rule. - -Bolivar wished to give Peru the same constitution as Bolivia; to -force the institution of the irremovable President on the anarchy of -these republics; but the municipality of Lima refused the project. -The Peruvians exalted the Liberator; "hero" and "demi-god" the poets -called him; his praise was sung in the churches; the Congress granted -him riches and honours. His generals were struggling for the supreme -command. The Colombian hero returned to his own country, and at once -President followed President and revolution revolution. The history -of the first twenty years of the Republic, as in Mexico and the -Argentine, records only the clash of the forces of society organised -and disciplined {114} by the colonial _régime_. Generals and -"doctors," autocracy and anarchy, the oligarchy of the vice-kingdom -and the advancing democracy, all were at war among themselves. -Byzantine factions struggled to attain the supreme power in the -assemblies and the barracks. Aristocratic Presidents--Riva Aguero, -Orbegoso, Vivanco, and military Presidents--La Mar, La Fuente, -Gamarra, followed one another with bewildering rapidity. In the -south Arequipa, the home of a tenacious race, engendered terrible -revolts. External wars, such as that with Colombia in 1827 and -Bolivia in 1828 and 1835 (to repulse the protectorate of Santa-Cruz), -were really due to the quarrels of ambitious generals who were -disputing the succession of Bolivar. New nations, whose frontiers as -yet were vague, had not yet acquired a national consciousness. -Santa-Cruz, President of Bolivia, unified Peru, founding a -confederation, from Tumez to Tarija, necessary to the equilibrium of -American politics; but he was a foreign President. Amid the host of -provincial chiefs a general presently arose who for twenty years was -the energetic director of the nation's life--Don Ramon Castilla. - -[Illustration: GENERAL ANDRES SANTA CRUZ. President of Bolivia -(1829-1839). To face p. 114.] - -He recalls Paez rather than Rosas. He was no invulnerable tyrant, -but a _caudillo_ of great influence. Born in Tarapaca in 1796, he -was a mestizo, having in his veins the blood of an Indian -grandmother. This origin perhaps explains his endurance and -astuteness. His father was Asturian, a member of a warlike race. -Castilla passed his youth at Tarapaca, in a region of vast plains and -narrow valleys, and the desert made him a nomad, a chief of -legionaries. A Spanish soldier in Chili, he was made prisoner at -Chacabuco; set at liberty, he travelled through the Argentine and -Brazil, and on his return to Peru he offered his services to San -Martin; in 1821 he fought beside Sucre at Ayacucho, followed General -Gamarra against Bolivia, and retaken prisoner at {115} Ingavi, he -finally became general, then marshal. Short, with virile features -and a penetrating glance, he was a great leader, strong and tenacious -in the field. His bearing was martial; men felt that opposition -irritated him, that he was an autocrat by vocation. Without much -culture, he was astute enough to seem learned. He intuitively knew -the value of men and the manner in which to govern them. His strong -point was the gift of command. Experience made him sceptical and -ironical; his speech was stern and incisive. His ideas were simple; -a conservative in politics, he respected the principle of authority. -Like San Martin, to whom he wrote some suggestive letters, he hated -anarchy. In the midst of the tumult of revolution he understood the -necessity of a strong government. He defeated the dictator Vivanco, -in skirmishes and pitched battles, at Carmen-Alto, and became -President of Peru in 1845. He granted an amnesty to the vanquished -and re-established order. His government marked the commencement, -after twenty years of revolutions, of a new period of administrative -stability, during which commerce developed and the public revenues -increased; new sources of wealth, namely, guano and saltpetre, -transformed the economic life of the country. The telegraph united -Lima to Callao in 1847; the first Peruvian railroad was inaugurated -in 1851. The service of the external debt due to foreign loans -commenced, and the internal debt was consolidated. The first -presidency of General Castilla resulted in peace and economic -progress. - -General Echenique succeeded him, and financial scandals, guano -concessions, speculations, and a corrupt thirst for wealth engendered -discontent. The prophecy of Bolivar was accomplished: gold had -corrupted Peru. Castilla hesitated before revolting against a -constitutional government. A lover of order, he respected authority -in others and in {116} himself. But finally a fresh revolution broke -out, and triumphed at La Palma in 1855. In the same year Congress -elected Castilla as President. - -In the preceding year the general-President had already proclaimed -the emancipation of the negro slaves, in order to ensure that the -revolution which he now headed should be welcome. Congress declared -the personal tribute demanded of the Indians abolished. A new -constitution, the basis of that of 1860, which is still in force in -Peru, changed the political organism in several essential aspects. -It suppressed the Council of State and replaced it by two -vice-presidents; it organised the municipalities, and set a term of -four years on the duration of the presidency. Vivanco rose against -Castilla in 1857, but was defeated. The government of General -Castilla terminated peacefully: from 1844 to 1860 he directed the -national policies with a hand of iron. None before him had been able -to give the life of the nation such continuity. All the moral and -economic forces of the country were developed; the exports attained -to three millions sterling, which sum was in excess of the imports; -railways and telegraph lines crossed the wilderness, and the credit -of the country permitted of new and important loans. Peru, conscious -of her progressive energy, aspired to extend her domains. Castilla -declared war upon Ecuador in 1859, the pretext being a question of -frontiers; as victor he granted generous terms of peace. He built -ships to oppose the future maritime supremacy of Chili; then, -divining the importance of Eastern Peru, he sent out expeditions to -explore the great unknown watercourses. Like Garcia-Moreno in -Ecuador and Portales in Chili, he established peace, stimulated -wealth, promoted education, created a navy, and imposed a new -constitution on the country. His action was not only political but -social; by freeing the slaves and Indians he prepared the future -{117} of democracy. The journals of the period condemned his -absolutism. "The formula of the General is '_L'Etat c'est moi_,'" -wrote Don José Casimiro-Ulloa in 1862. For fifteen years he was the -dictator necessary to an unstable republic. - -After him the national life was personified by a civil President, -Manuel Pardo, who represented the reaction of lawyers and business -men against the militarism of Castilla and his predecessors. He did -not govern for two terms, like the autocratic General, nor did his -personal influence last ten years; yet his reputation increased after -his death, so that his name, like that of Balmaceda in Chili, -presides over the fortunes of a party. - -Pardo was born in Lima in 1834. He was the son of a poet, Don Felipe -Pardo; but he soon abandoned dreams for action; to him material -interest seemed superior to all other questions. - -He detested "pure politics"; he regarded the Constitution as a "dead -letter in national life." His vocation impelled him to protect the -financial affairs of the country; he was Minister of Finance from -1866 to 1868, fiscal agent in London, and founded a bank in Lima. -His best address deals with the subject of taxation. As President he -decreed a monopoly of saltpetre in 1875, an economic measure often -criticised as having provoked the disastrous war with Chili. - -An economist and champion of order, he continued the work of -Castilla, was triumphant over revolution, and organised the country. - -In 1862, when he had already been minister and mayor of Lima, a -popular election carried him to power. In four years his -extraordinary activity reformed all the public services: education, -finance, and immigration. He ordered the census to be taken in 1876; -he endeavoured to attract foreigners; founded the Faculty of -Political Sciences and the {118} University of Lima for the education -of diplomatists and administrators, and the School of Arts and Crafts -for the improvement of popular education; he opened new primary -schools, sent for German and Polish professors, and entrusted the -pedagogic direction of the country to them. He promulgated new -regulations dealing with education on the classic European lines. He -re-established the National Guard, as Portales had done in Chili, and -organised departmental _juntas_ with an eye to decentralisation. His -action was restless and universal. He preferred a positive policy, -devoid of doctrinaire quarrels, dreamed of a practical republic, like -Rafael Nuñez in Colombia and Guzman-Blanco in Venezuela, and -preferred the faculty of political sciences, which formed -administrators, to that of letters, which created literary men and -philosophers. - -Nevertheless, the country became bankrupt. Loans, the great -undertakings of President Balta, and speculations in guano and -saltpetre had exhausted it. Pardo could not prevent this financial -disaster. He assured the service of the foreign debt and informed -the democracy, intoxicated by the economic orgy, that it was ruined. -He vainly sought the alliance of the Argentine and Bolivia in order -to erect a triple bastion of defence against the ambitions of Chili. -His efforts were fruitless, both at home and abroad. He was -succeeded by a military President. The alliance of Peru and Bolivia -was powerless against the might of Chili, and Pardo himself was -assassinated during a supreme reaction of the demagogy which he hoped -to rule. - -[Illustration: MANUEL PARDO. President of Peru (1872-1876). To face -p. 118.] - -Death made his influence lasting, as was the case with Garcia-Moreno -and Balmaceda. A strong ruler of men, he had gathered about him -enthusiastic and even fanatical partisans. His work of reformation -became the evangel of a party, the civil party which he had founded. -As early as 1841 the dictator {119} Vivanco had united, in a -conservative group, the leading men of the time: Pando, Andres -Martinez, Felipe Pardo. Ureta, Pardo's rival in the presidential -campaign, united the first elements of a civil party. But it was his -rival who concentrated all these forces, making them lasting and -harmonious. A scion of ancient families, of the Aliagas and -Lavalles, Pardo represented the colonial traditions in a disordered -democracy. - -Thanks to the discovery of new sources of wealth --saltpetre and -guano--and to fiscal monopolies, a powerful plutocracy suddenly arose -in Peru, which was soon, by the prestige of its wealth, to overpower -the old Peruvian families. Pardo, not opposing the national -transformation, joined this plutocracy; and his party, reinforced by -the alliance, became the obstinate champion of property, of slow -reform, and of order, against the anarchy of the Creoles. It was -conservative without rigidity, liberal without violence, like the -moderate parties of monarchical governments, or the Progressists of -the third French Republic. Originally an aristocratic power, it -abandoned its old severity, and became the party of the wealthy -classes, taking mulattos and mestizos to its bosom. So, as in other -South American democracies, the ancient oligarchy was replaced by a -plutocracy which included the sons of immigrants, half-breeds, and -bankers. - -The influence of Pardo was greater and more lasting than that of -Castilla. It responded to many of the needs of Peru; placed between -militarism and demagogy, the civil element was the only agent of -order and progress. The work of Pardo, interrupted during the war -with Chili (1879-84) and the period of anarchy which followed, -despite the efforts of a military leader who had fought like a hero -in the war against Chili--Colonel Caceres--was by the irony of human -affairs continued by the sworn enemy {120} of Pardo: Pierola, the -last of the great Peruvian _caudillos_; restless, romantic, and -always ready to seize the reins of power by the violent aid of -revolution. - -In 1869, at the age of thirty, he was Minister of Finance, following -Garcia Calderon, who had resigned his post rather than authorise the -waste of fiscal resources. Ten years later Pierola proclaimed -himself dictator, and prepared, with unusual energy, to defend Peru -against the invasion of Chili. A reformer after the methods of the -Jacobins, he thought to transform the nation by heaping decree upon -decree and by changing the names of institutions. His noble -enthusiasm makes it easy to overlook his errors. - -The Peruvian troops defeated, Pierola did not resign power, and -divided the country. Ten years later, in the full maturity of his -intellectual powers, he was elected President (1895-99); from which -period we may date the Peruvian renaissance. Without raising loans -he transformed an exhausted country into a stable republic. Like all -the great American _caudillos_, he was an excellent administrator of -the fiscal wealth of the country; he established a gold standard as -the basis of the new monetary system, promulgated a military code and -an electoral law, and by means of a French mission endeavoured to -change an army which was the docile servant of ambitious factions -into a force capable of preserving domestic peace. His organising -talent, his patriotism, and his extraordinary ability, surprised -those who had known only the revolutionary leader. - -[Illustration: DON NICOLAS DE PIEROLA. President of Peru -(1895-1899). To face p. 120.] - -He founded a democratic party, as did Pardo a party inimical to -militarism. But in spite of the denomination of this party it has -lent its aid to the military leaders, and no law in favour of the -workers has emanated from the democrats. Pierola, who called himself -"the protector of the native race," {121} established a tax upon -salt, which was a great hardship to that poverty-stricken race. - -[Illustration: DON FRANCISCO GARCIA CALDERON. President of Peru -(1881-1884). To face p. 121.] - -The leader of the democrats is himself an aristocrat; not only by -origin, by the somewhat old-fashioned elegance of his style, and by -his patrician tastes; he has always preferred to surround himself -with men of the old noble families: the Orbegosos, Gonzalez, Osmas, -Ortiz de Zevallos, &c. This contrast between his tastes and -tendencies and the party which he founded does not detract from the -great popularity which the old ex-president enjoys in Peru; he is -popular by reason of qualities which are wholly personal, like those -of Manuel Pardo, and his supporters become fanatics. His mannered -phrases, his heroism and his audacity, have a religious significance -in the eyes of his believers; like Facundo in the epic of Sarmiento, -he is the nomadic khalif who brings to a democracy in the throes of -anarchy the promise of a divine message. - - - - -{122} - -CHAPTER III - -BOLIVIA: SANTA-CRUZ - -Santa-Cruz and the Confederation of Peru and Bolivia--The tyrants, -Belzu, Molgarejo--The last _caudillos_: Pando, Montes. - - -Bolivia sprang, armed and full-grown, as in the classic myth, from -the brain of Bolivar. The Liberator gave her a name, a Constitution, -and a President. In 1825 he created by decree an autonomous republic -in the colonial territory of the district of Charcas, and became its -Protector. Sucre, the hero of Ayacucho, succeeded him in 1826. -During the wars of Independence this noble friend of Bolivar resigned -from power, disillusioned; he was the Patroclus of the American Iliad. - -From that time onward the young republic was for twenty years ruled -by a great _caudillo_, Andres Santa-Cruz. A lieutenant of the -Liberator, he inherited, like Paez and Flores, a portion of his -legacy of nations: he was President of Bolivia and wished to be -President of Peru. - -[Illustration: OPENING OF CONGRESS, LA PAZ, BOLIVIA. (From "Latin -America, the Land of Opportunity," by the Hon. John Barrett.)] - -In 1826 he presided over the Council of State at Lima and governed in -the absence of Bolivar. In 1827 he was the head of the Bolivian -Republic, prosecuting a difficult struggle against national anarchy. -His ambition included the vast theatre of the old vice-kingdom; he -wished to unite Bolivia and Peru, and to that end organised -freemasonry as a political force, from La Paz to Lima. President of -the Bolivian Republic for the second time {123} in 1828, he formed a -government sufficiently strong to discourage revolution. Like -Garcia-Moreno and Guzman-Blanco, he was a civilizer. The son of an -Indian woman of noble origin, the _Cacica_ of Guarina, he perhaps -inherited imperial ambitions. He loved power and display, received -the order of the Legion of Honour from Louis-Philippe, and instituted -an analogous order for the Bolivian Confederation. He accumulated -sonorous titles: Captain-General and President of Bolivia, Grand -Marshal, Pacificator of Peru, Supreme Protector of the South and -North Peruvians, &c. In domestic politics he was an organiser who -was capable of cruelty in defence of order; a strict administrator. -He promulgated codes, following the Napoleonic example, disciplined -the army, and restored the national finances. The revenue increased, -credit became more secure, and imperialism saw the light. Santa-Cruz -attracted Europeans and protected his countrymen, for the question of -population preoccupied him; it is, indeed, the great problem of -Bolivia and South America. In 1833 he proposed the exclusion of -celibates from the magistracy, a measure of protection in favour of -numerous families. Like all the _caudillos_, he made great efforts -to develop the public treasury. - -Local triumphs did not satisfy him. Distrustful, crafty, frigid, -without the declamatory eloquence of other presidents, ambitious of -wealth and power, he longed to extend his despotic sceptre over new -States. Imitating Napoleon, like Iturbide in Mexico, and remembering -the successes of the First Consul, he prepared expeditions of -conquest, and fostered anarchy in Peru, which he intended to govern -once more as in 1826. Orbegoso, President of the neighbouring -republic, called for his assistance in 1835 in order to overcome -Salaverry, a brilliant officer who had proclaimed himself dictator. -Santa-Cruz thereupon constituted himself the arbiter of Peruvian -{124} disputes, and invaded the country. He defeated Salaverry at -Socabaya and Gamarra, his ally, at Yanacocha. The dictator was shot -in 1836, and the Bolivian president founded a vast confederation as a -bulwark against Peruvian anarchy: he reconstituted the old -vice-kingdom. His ambition then led him so far as to attack Rosas, -the tyrant of Argentina. He had inherited the Unitarian ideals of -Bolivar, and prepared to realise them. Three States, Bolivia, and -North and South Peru, each with its own capital, its president, and -its congress, formed the Confederation, under the imperial authority -of the new Inca. Santa-Cruz organised the three States with amazing -rapidity, imposed codes and constitutions, and expected to rule from -Lima, the fashionable metropolis; it was said that he was the avenger -of the oppressed race of half-breeds, oppressed by the colonial -oligarchy. The Confederation existed from 1837, but Chili, in the -south, envious of the Peruvian-Bolivian hegemony, threatened its -existence. Portales, that omnipotent minister, sought pretexts to -attack this solid political structure. He accused Santa-Cruz of -fostering expeditions against the Chilian conservatives--for -instance, that of Freire--and called him "the unjust violator of the -sovereignty of Peru"; he feared that his power would strike a blow at -the independence of the South American republics. Portales and -Santa-Cruz represented two irreconcilable ambitions; they had the -same love of authority and organic construction, and each professed a -narrow nationalism and a violent patriotism. The Chilian oligarchy, -led by Portales, proceeded to organise the "liberation campaign" -against and on behalf of Peru. The historian Walker Martinez -justifies this policy of interference and intervention in American -affairs, although since the Pacific war the Chilian diplomatists have -always pronounced against it. - -{125} - -Two successive expeditions were directed against the coast of Peru. -Santa-Cruz defeated the first, which was led by the Chilian general -Blanco Encalada, in 1837. General Bulnes was the leader of another -"army of liberation." Peruvian generals supported him: Gamarra, La -Fuente, Castilla, and Orbegoso himself. The battle of Yungai, in -1838, put an end to the Confederation, and Santa-Cruz lost all power -over the peoples of Bolivia and Peru. - -His political work, the Confederation, tended to unite two peoples -which Bolivar had separated in spite of colonial traditions; it -organised, on the shores of the Pacific, a stable power to oppose the -increasing imperialism of Chili. Eminent Peruvians seconded the -unifying efforts of the Bolivian leader: Riva-Aguero, Orbegoso, -Garcia del Rio, and Necochea. - -His work shattered, Santa-Cruz retired to Europe in 1845, but -attempted, when urged by excited supporters, to return to his own -country. Chili and Peru both opposed the suggestion. He was a -friend of Napoleon III. in Paris, where he several times represented -Bolivia, and where he died in 1865. The Confederation which he -vainly desired to found would have changed the destiny of the peoples -of the Pacific, by giving the political supremacy to Bolivia and Peru -united. The successors of Santa-Cruz in the Bolivian presidency, -Ballivian and Velasco, were friends of his, and continued his -ambitious policy, although they had revolted against his autocracy. -Since the days of the great mestizo leader no ruler has attained an -equal reputation, nor attempted so great a political mission. Of -later presidents, Baptista and Arce, civilians, and Pando and Montes, -soldiers, exercised a real influence on Bolivian history, but had not -the importance of the first presidents. The last was a remarkable -organiser and a builder of railways which saved his country {126} -from a dangerous isolation. They belonged to a prosaic age of steady -economic development. Bolivia has also had its tyrants, figures of -tragi-comedy, vulgar and gloomy: Belzu, Velasco, Daza, and finally -Melgarejo, the bloody incarnation of Creole barbarity. He was the -Nero of Bolivia; a man capable of every cruelty and every licence; -daring, energetic, he inaugurated a reign of terror, surrounded -himself with a prætorian guard, and represented the instincts of the -mob, exacerbated by alcohol and envy. In vain did well-meaning -dictators like Ballivian in 1841 or Linares in 1857 strive to -continue, in the interval between two episodes of barbarism, the -civilising task of Santa-Cruz. They dreamed of founding a -_Republique Almara_, like Renan in the domains of Caliban, a tyranny -of the intellectual elements. Their effort was fruitless. Down to -1899, the year in which President Pando inaugurated civil government, -the history of Bolivia was a dreary succession of revolutions and -tyrants. A remarkable writer who has studied his "sick people"[1] -writes that "from 1825 to 1898 more than sixty revolutions broke out, -and a series of international wars, and six Presidents were -assassinated: Blanco, Belzu, Cordova, Morales, Melgarejo, and Daza, -without counting those that died in exile." - -[Illustration: COLONEL ISMAEL MONTES. President of Bolivia -(1905-1909). To face p. 126.] - - -[1] _Pueblo enfermo_, by A. Arguedas, Barcelona, 1906. - - - - -{127} - -CHAPTER IV, - -URUGUAY: LAVALLEJA--RIVERA--THE NEW _CAUDILLOS_ - -The factions: Reds and Whites--The leaders: Artigas, Lavalleja, -Rivera--The modern period. - - -A small southern republic, situated between an Imperialist state, -Brazil, and a nation ambitious of hegemony, the Argentine, Uruguay, -"the Eastern Province" (Banda Oriental) has struggled for its liberty -since the commencement of the nineteenth century. Artigas -represented the principle of nationality in the long wars against -Buenos-Ayres and the Spanish armies: he was the first _caudillo_, the -forerunner of the Independence. Rivera and Lavalleja inherited his -unconquerable patriotism, and proclaimed the independence of their -country. In 1822, without the constant aid of armies of liberation, -such as those of San Martin and Bolivar, but by the heroic efforts of -its own soldiers, the ancient province of the vice-kingdom of La -Plata constituted itself a new State, governed by a Unitarian -constitution. - -Artigas had fought for the liberty of the province of Uruguay, for -its freedom from all tutelage. Rivera and Lavalleja were willing to -compromise at the commencement of the new campaign of liberation. A -Congress held at Montevideo proclaimed the incorporation of the -Eastern Province with Portugal. The two _caudillos_ desired the -union of Uruguay with Brazil. Another leader, Manuel Oribe, was -anxious for the protection of the legions of the Argentine {128} to -conquer the independence of his country. An ambassador from -Buenos-Ayres, Don Valentin Gomez, proposed to Brazil in 1825 that the -rebellious Uruguay should once more become a province of the -Argentine, but the Empire refused to consent. Lavalleja, who had -sought for Brazilian protection, changed his mind; he sought for -Argentine assistance, whether that of the capital or that of the -federal leaders, while Rivera remained faithful to his original -programme of union with Southern Brazil. A piece of heroism worthy -of the Spanish _conquistadors_ set a term to this indecision. -Lavalleja, at the head of the "Thirty-Three," a little band of heroes -comparable to the legendary companions of Pizarro and Cortes, landed -on the Uruguayan coast on the 19th of April, 1825. "Liberty or -death" was their watchword. Rivera joined them, and the struggle for -the independence of the eastern province at once gained an intenser -significance. At Florida a provisional government was installed, -which decreed separation from Brazil and Portugal, proclaimed the -sovereignty of the nation, and decided upon union, under a federal -organisation, with the Argentine provinces. "Eastern Argentines," -Lavalleja called his compatriots. The rulers of the Argentine did -not decide upon supporting the liberators of Uruguay. With Brazil -hostile, and abandoned by Buenos-Ayres, the indomitable "Orientals" -commenced a bitter warfare which ended in their winning their -independence. Rivera defeated the Brazilian general Abreu at -Rincon-de-Haeda, then at Sarandu, a decisive battle which Zorrilla de -San Martin compares to Chacabuco. The Argentines maintained their -neutrality, but the Congress of 1825, obedient to the suggestions of -Rivadavia, declared to Brazil that it recognised the incorporation of -the Eastern Province "which has by its own efforts restored the -liberty of its territory." War broke out against Brazil; -Buenos-Ayres and Rio de Janeiro both aspired to {129} rule in -Montevideo. The conflict lasted from 1826 to 1828; Argentines and -Uruguayans took part in it, fighting side by side. The campaign was -directed by Lavalleja and General Alvear, who in Buenos-Ayres had -been a fashionable dictator. Rivera withdrew from the army. Brazil -suffered a defeat at Itazango, where 3,000 "Orientals" and 4,000 -Argentines fought against 9,000 Brazilian soldiers. All things -pointed to the fact that Uruguay would soon be an independent nation. -The "Orientals" no longer admitted the hegemony of Brazil, nor the -tutelage of Argentina; they decided to pursue the struggle without -the help of Buenos-Ayres. The war would be longer, but even more -certain in its results. Lavalleja replaced Alvear in the government. -Rivera, who had landed at Soriano, fought and won at Misiones (1828), -and continued unaided the campaign against Artigas. He distrusted -Buenos-Ayres and even Lavalleja himself, and, thanks to his continued -efforts, peace with Brazil was finally signed on the 27th of August, -1838. The Empire recognised the independence of the "Province of -Montevideo" and the constitution of a "sovereign State," a necessary -factor in the political equilibrium of La Plata. - -[Illustration: JUAN ANTONIO LAVALLEJA. _Caudillo_ of Uruguay in the -struggle for independence. To face p. 128.] - -Seven years later, under the tyranny of Rosas, Uruguay saw her -autonomy menaced. The Argentine dictator aspired to conquer the -little republic and to rule as the Spanish viceroys had ruled in all -the provinces of La Plata, from Tarija to Montevideo. The "Oriental" -President Oribe, elected in 1825, was the ally of Rosas against the -Argentine refugees in Montevideo, who were supported by Rivera. -Uruguayans and Argentines were confounded in the two parties, but -Rivera represented a new source of conflict, as in his quarrels with -Lavalleja, the unconquerable spirit of nationality. Defeated in -1837, he continued, upon Brazilian territory, an obstinate warfare -against Oribe. He defeated him, and was {130} proclaimed President -of Uruguay. Oribe then figured in the Argentine army, as a general -of Rosas. - -At this stage the conflict between Unitarians and federals around -Montevideo acquired a transcendental significance. Brazil intervened -once more in the affairs of La Plata. Impregnable as Paraguay under -Lopez, the Eastern Province continued the war against Oribe, its -ex-president, and against the legions of the Argentine tyrant. A -noble crusader in the cause of liberty, Garibaldi, at the head of the -Uruguayan squadron which defended Montevideo, gave the struggle a -romantic character. Oribe, a genius of destruction, ravaged the -country, and besieged Montevideo by land in 1843. Foreigners: -French, Italians, Turks, and natives, defended the threatened city. -England, France, and Brazil at first offered their mediation, which -was refused by Oribe; they then sent squadrons to defend the autonomy -of Uruguay and to insure the free navigation of the River Parana in -the interests of European commerce. After a long war of heroic -conflicts Urquiza, the leader of the armies in alliance against the -autocracy of Rosas, put Oribe to flight (1861) and saved Montevideo -from the Argentine peril. - -Lavalleja and Rivera, the great _caudillos_ in the struggle for -liberty, were rival claimants for power and moral influence. Rivera, -like Artigas, represented an aggressive patriotism, hostile to all -outside influence; his ideal was national integrity. Generous, -anarchical, of the native type, he was more liberal and more of a -democrat than Lavalleja; he defended all liberties--liberty of -conscience, of industry, of the press. A nomadic _gaucho_, he -organised and led guerilla forces through a campaign of incessant -skirmishes. Lavalleja, imperfectly educated, rude, authoritative, -half a Spaniard in his pride and his colonial methods, was the leader -of the aristocratic and cultivated classes. More conservative and -more politic than Rivera, he opposed the rural democracy, {131} and -desired an orderly independence, a disciplined liberty; in government -he was a tyrant. He alienated the supporters of Rivera, dissolved -the Chamber of Representatives, reformed the administration of -justice, and estranged the authorities of the departments. Rivera, -President from 1830 to 1834 and from 1838 to 1843, was--like the -majority of the American _caudillos_--a zealous protector of commerce -and industry. The national revenues mounted by 27 per cent.; imports -and exports increased; the population was doubled, and schools and -libraries were founded. Rivera exterminated the Charrua Indians, who -pillaged in town and country, fostered the stock-raising industry, -and, in his democratic enthusiasm, prohibited the slave trade in 1839 -and freed the slaves in 1842. - -In the rivalry of these leaders we may already perceive the elements -of future civil struggles. Two political parties, the Whites and the -Reds, struggled for power, as in other American republics; their -disputes, which were long and violent, revealed an antagonism more -profound than any simple conflict of political opinions. Uruguay, -like Venezuela and Peru, is a country of _caudillos_, but all her -leaders, from Rivera to Battle Ordonez, have effected not merely -works of material progress, but also religious and moral reforms, -which explains the violent mutual hatred of the Reds and Whites. In -matters of local import, or of national convictions and traditions, -there is a clash of formidable instincts, and the political problem -becomes simplified. Two great groups, one conservative and the other -liberal, both represented by tenacious leaders, disputed the supreme -power in the government and in parliament. The Whites were partisans -of absolutism, nationalists and catholics, and intolerant towards -foreign cults; and the old Spanish aristocracy, the clergy, the -"doctors"--all those, in short, who would constitute an intellectual -oligarchy--sympathised with this authoritative {132} and -traditionalist party. The Reds called their adversaries cut-throats -(for in the name of reasons of State and of order they had no respect -for human life), reproached them with opposing due liberties (they -did condemn what they considered excessive liberties) and were -liberals and enemies of the Church. The country districts and the -cabins supported them; they were the popular party. The Whites -called them "the Savages." Although very old families figured in -both clans, the new social classes, the mestizos and children of -foreigners inclined rather to the Reds, while the Whites included the -proprietors of the _latifundia_. - -Lavalleja died in 1853, Rivera in 1854. After the death of the two -leaders a barbarous warfare continued between the two parties, which -represented tradition and democracy. In vain did certain of the -Presidents--Garro, Flores, and Berro--attempt to realise the unity of -Uruguay and to form a national party. The conflict still continued, -for the groups were swayed by an inevitable antagonism: the -conservative oligarchy and the half-breed democracy are opposed in -Uruguay as in Mexico and Venezuela. The old families, _beati -possidentes_, defended "_la grande proprieté_" against the foreigners -and mestizos. - -With the triumph of Flores (1865) the Whites lost their political -supremacy, and the liberal party regained its old position. Flores -protected commerce, rebuilt the cities destroyed by so many wars, and -built railways; his dictatorship terminated in 1868. The leader of -the Reds returned to the Presidency from 1875 to 1876, and his party -established itself more firmly. Despite fresh revolutions, it did -not yield up the government, and effected great social reforms. -Another _caudillo_, the present President, Don José Battle y Ordoñez, -is, by virtue of his liberal creed, his influence, and the daring of -his political programme, an eminent personage amidst the sordid {133} -quarrels which divide the populations of America; he has inherited -the authority of Rivera, Flores, and Lorenzo Battle. - -The modern Uruguay is born of the struggle between the two -traditional parties: a small nation with an intense commercial -vitality, like Belgium and Switzerland. A harmonious republic, it -has not overlooked, in its material conquests, the suggestion of -Ariel. An admirable master, José Enrique Rodo, has established a -chair of idealism at Montevideo. Immigration, a surplus[1] in the -budgets, a strict service of the internal debt, an increasing -population--in short, all the aspects of economic progress--go hand -in hand with the spread of education, the abundance of schools, the -importance of journalism, and the moral vigour of a younger -generation, which is ambitious for its country, and anxious that -Uruguay shall play a noble part upon the American stage. The most -advanced laws--divorce, suppression of the death penalty, a code -protecting workers, separation of Church and State--give the -development of Uruguayan civilisation a markedly liberal aspect. -Miscegenation decreased after the destruction of the Charruas, and -the race is more homogeneous and keenly patriotic. The enthusiasm of -the Uruguayans has baptized Montevideo in the name of New Troy, for -the possession of this impregnable city was, in the _Iliad_ of -America, the ambition of every conqueror: it was the refuge of the -pilgrims of liberty, of ambitious foreigners, of Argentine -Unitarians, and of a romantic soldier, Garibaldi. When the peoples -of America, weary of civil discord, wish to unify their laws and -glorify the heroism of their past conflicts, they proceed to -Montevideo, as to The Hague or Washington, in periodical Peace -Congresses. In a continent divided by fatal ambitions, the capital -of Uruguay preserves the tradition of Americanism. - - -[1] This surplus amounted to eight millions of piastres between 1906 -and 1910. - - - - -{134} - -CHAPTER V - -THE ARGENTINE: RIVADAVIA--QUIROGA--ROSAS - -Anarchy in 1820--The _caudillos_: their part in the formation of -nationality--A Girondist, Rivadavia--The despotism of Rosas--Its -duration and its essential aspects. - - -The Argentine passed through a crisis, a time of anarchy, like the -other American nations. But the struggle between autocracy and -revolution assumed epic proportions in the vast arena of the pampa. -It was the clash of organic forces. Tradition, geography, and race -gave it a rare intensity. The provinces fought against the capital, -the coast against the sierra, the _gauchos_ against the men of the -seaboard, and the various parties represented national instincts. - -The anarchy and ambition of the provinces commenced during the first -few years of Argentine life. Governments followed one another at -rapid intervals; constitutions and regulations were legion; political -forms were essayed as experiments, on Roman or French models; there -was the Junta of 1810, the Triumvirate of 1813, and the Directory of -1819. Every two years, with inflexible regularity, from 1811 to -1819, this uneasy republic imposed a new Constitution. The Argentine -troops, like the armies of the French Revolution, gave the gift of -liberty to Chili and Peru; but at home the effort of Buenos-Ayres to -dominate the provinces was less fortunate. - -It has been written that in 1820 the confusion and {135} discord in -the Argentine were so intense that the effort of the revolutionaries -of May appeared to have spent itself. In Buenos-Ayres there was a -divorce between the factions, and a struggle between Unitarian and -federal _caudillos_: Alvear, Sarratea, Dorrego and Soler; between the -municipalities and the rebellious troops; in the country as a whole -it was the struggle of the provincial leaders against Buenos-Ayres -and the Directory. - -In the midst of this period of disturbance the federal democracy was -born; the provinces concluded treaties, the capital compromised with -the _caciques_, the governors of the provinces; the _cabildo_ -retained its representative character, the military and civil -elements entered upon a mutual conflict. - -Finally, in 1821, the Directorial party, aristocratic and Unitarian, -was victorious. Bernardino Rivadavia was the representative figure -of the period. Secretary in the government of Rodriguez from 1821 to -1824, President from 1826 to 1827, a civil dictator like Portales in -Chili, a remarkable statesman, a reformer like Moreno and Belgrano, -he presided over a premature realisation of the democratic ideal, and -symbolised the Unitarian principles in all their force: the supremacy -of Buenos-Ayres, constitutionalism, European civilisation, and the -ideal Republic. He was the pupil of Lamartine and Benjamin Constant -in a barbarous democracy. He had every gift--physical arrogance, -oratorical power, honesty, enthusiasm, patriotism. He divined the -elements of Argentine greatness: immigration, the navigability of the -rivers, the stability of the banks, and external trade. But -Buenos-Ayres was then a plebiscitary republic, in which the _cabildo_ -and the people resolved all problems of politics, and Rivadavia -suffered ostracism, as he had enjoyed the unstable popularity with -which democracies endow their leaders. - -He was, according to the expression of {136} M. Groussac, a vigorous -forger of Utopias. He granted all political rights; he wished to see -a republic with a free suffrage; he 'doubled the number of the -representatives of the people, and suppressed the municipalities -which had prepared the way for the revolution. The executive power -renounced its extraordinary attributes and submitted to the -legislative power. Was this wise, in a revolutionary country, face -to face with the disunited provinces? Rivadavia organised the -judiciary as a supreme and autonomous entity. He declared, in -messages dealing with the doctrine of high politics, that property -and the person were inviolable; he proclaimed the liberty of the -press, and recognised the liberty of the conscience. - -He commenced the campaign against the Church, suppressing convents, -seizing their possessions by mortmain, ignoring the ecclesiastic -charter, and secularising the cemeteries. He aspired, like -Guzman-Blanco, to found a national and democratic religion upon the -traditional elements. A great educator, he had faith in the benefits -of popular instruction, erected buildings for the use of schools and -colleges, attracted foreign teachers, and promulgated a plan of study -in which the physical sciences and mathematics, forgotten under the -old system, occupied the first rank. He founded numerous pedagogic -institutions: the Faculty of Medicine, the Museum, the Library, -special technical and agricultural schools, and colleges for young -girls. - -He did not overlook material progress. His financial reforms were -radical; the national budget was instituted; a tax upon rent was -imposed, and the customs duties were regularised. The minister -Garcia contributed to this financial reformation. Rivadavia -understood that the whole future of Buenos-Ayres depended upon that -great civiliser, the ocean, and he ordered the construction of four -harbours {137} on the coast. He favoured immigration, protected -agriculture, improved the ways and means of transport, reformed the -police, and contracted the first loan. - -It was under the government of Rivadavia that the Constitution of -1826 was promulgated. This was inspired by the doctrines of J. J. -Rousseau, and his _Contrat social_; but it aimed energetically at -centralisation and authority. Senators were to exercise their -functions for twelve years; they were the conservative power. The -mandate of the deputies and the Director was to last only four years. -It was a Unitarian constitution which made Buenos-Ayres, in spite of -the protest of the federals, the capital of the United Provinces of -the Rio de la Plata, the centre which "rules all the peoples, and -upon which all depend." - -Rivadavia imposed unity, propagated his ideas, multiplied reforms, -and checkmated the Church; he was the civiliser _par excellence_. He -wished to transform a Spanish province into a European nation, a -barbarous people into a democracy, a sluggish and fanatical society -into a liberal republic. He governed in the interests of -Buenos-Ayres and the seaboard, for the future Latin democracy, and -neglected the desert, the anarchy of the provinces, the indomitable -sierra, the _caciques_, and the Indian tribes. He was vanquished by -feudal barbarism, by a confused democracy, hostile to organisation -and unity; but his work remains, in the shape of a constitutional -programme. Alberdi writes that he gave America the plan of his -progressive improvements and innovations: it is an immense political -structure, a gospel of democracy. Were popular myths to rise in -spontaneous birth in Buenos-Ayres, before the evocative ocean, as in -the Greek cities lovingly bathed by the Mediterranean, then Rivadavia -would be the genius of Argentine culture, the patron of the city, the -creator of its arts and its laws. - -{138} - -While the magistral President was showering down reforms, the -demagogues triumphed over his efforts toward unity. His -constitutional labours miscarried in the provinces; the governors -would not submit to the haughty supremacy of Buenos-Ayres. They -fought for power in rude civil wars, in the North and on the -seaboard. Some provincial congresses were precariously installed, -and Montevideo renounced its union with the Argentine. A _caudillo_, -who at times rose to the moral greatness of the Liberators, Artigas, -longed to see Uruguay, his country, independent. The Empire of -Brazil and the Argentine democracy were wrangling for its possession. -Rivadavia stoically resigned the Presidency in 1827, having shown -himself a prodigal and sumptuous creator and an eminent prophet; he -left the country, having wearied the populace with his inventive -genius.[1] In his place General Dorrego was elected Governor of -Buenos-Ayres, the federal chief of the city, as Rosas was of the -country. The war with Brazil continued; but in 1828 a treaty was -signed which recognised the autonomy of Uruguay. - -[Illustration: RIVADAVIA. President of Argentina (1826-1827). To -face p. 13] - -This Brazilian victory aroused the indignation of the Argentine -Unitarians; they overthrew Dorrego and elected General Lavalle to be -Governor. A storm of tragedy broke over the divided city. Dorrego -was shot by order of Lavalle, and then began the terrible war of -hatred between federals and Unitarians--a Jacobin conflict. - -The daring revolt of the provinces had coincided with the -promulgation of the Constitution of 1826. {139} Since 1820 the -Argentine provinces had been in a state of revolt against the imposed -or suggested rule of Buenos-Ayres; it was the period of _caudillos_. -To the aristocratic presidency of Rivadavia they opposed the Terror. -They represented the barbarian might of the provinces. They made -federation a reality, cemented it by long quarrels, sanguinary -hatreds, conventions, alliances, and friendships. The provinces -fought within the nation; the cities within the province; within the -city, the families. An inflexible individualism--the fundamental -Spanish tradition--dissolved the provisional crystallisations of -society and politics. It was not a simple federal disaggregation--a -clash of ambitious overlords eager to surround their manors by new -domains; it was a mystic barbarism, the leaders of which recalled the -nomadic and fanatical Tamerlane. They were impelled by a strange, -rude force, disordered and prodigious--the genius of the _pampa_, the -instinct of a vagabond race. - -General Quiroga, the "Facundo" of Sarmiento, was the prototype of -these turbulent _gauchos_. By conquest or alliance he extended his -government over several provinces. The paltry Bustos, the Reinafé -family, the crafty Lopez, and Ferré were also among the Argentine -_caudillos_; Lopez extended his rule over Entre-Rios, Santa-Fé, and -Cordoba. Facundo dominated them all by the range of his deeds and -his influence. He came from the Andes to the conquest of the -seaboard and the great rivers; he reigned in Rio, Jujuy, Salta, -Tucuman, Catamarca, San Juan, San Luis, and Mendoza; he grouped vast -provinces together, and paved the way for unity in the future; he was -the forerunner of Rosas. Cruel and loyal, noble and bloodthirsty, -honest, frugal, and aggressive, a product of the _pampa_, he felt -himself actuated by primitive forces, by simple passions and -instincts, by heroism and the love of peril. Powerfully built, {140} -with an abundant shock of hair, bushy eyebrows, and the eyes of a -ruler, he resembled one of those gloomy Khalifs who brought the -mystic terror of the Orient to the West. On the standard which he -raised against the liberalism of Rivadavia was the proclamation: -"Liberty or death!" He was the "bad _gaucho_" the enemy of social -discipline, who lives far from the city and its laws, conscious and -proud of his barbarism. Sarmiento stated that he entertained "a -great aversion for decent persons," and that he hated the lordly city -of Buenos-Ayres. He fought with success against the Unitarian -generals, Paz and La Madrid, and against such secondary leaders as -Lopez and Reinafé. His life was a continual running hunt across the -rugged mountains; his goal the city of Rivadavia and the Directory; -his campaigns were bloody, and worthy of a chaotic period, during -which barbarism changed only in kind from Buenos-Ayres to Rioja. He -pillaged, executed, and triumphed in his rude insurrections at Tala, -at Campana de Cuyo. He wrote to General Paz in 1830, in his -downright manner: "In the advanced state of the provinces it is -impossible to satisfy local pretensions except by the system of -federation. The provinces will be cut to bits, perhaps, but -conquered--never!" Assassinated at Barranco-Yaco by the treacherous -hand of Reinafé, probably with the complicity of Rosas, he left his -heritage to this last of the _caudillos_. - -Rosas was one of those hyperborean beings upon whom Gobineau -conferred a perdurable authority over the human herd. He possessed a -coat of arms, blue eyes, and the spirit of a ruler. Sober, astute, -proud, energetic, he combined all the characteristics of a great and -imperious personality. He obeyed neither general conceptions nor -vast political plans. He was a will served by ambitions. His -authoritative character of a Spanish patrician made him the {141} -_paterfamilias_ of the Argentine democracy. The pursuit of power was -an instinct, a physiological need; he governed in the interests of -federation, the concrete, practical idea, which he absorbed by -contact with many regions, of the nomadic _gaucho_, the self-willed -provincial; and he expounded it in 1824 in a famous letter to -Quiroga. He was not content to work for the mere realisation of the -North American ideal; his aim was national federation. He was -persuaded of "the necessity of a general government, the only means -of giving life and respectability" to a republic; but only the -properly constituted states would accept this central authority. Of -a federative republic he writes that nothing more chimerical and -disastrous could be imagined when it is not composed of properly -organised states. The anarchy of the Argentine was not a condition -propitious to the foundation of federation or unity; Rosas affirmed, -recalling the United States, that "the general government in a -federative republic does not unite the federated peoples: it -represents them when united." So he wished to unite the provinces: -"the elements of discord among the peoples must be given time to -destroy themselves, and each government must foster the spirit of -peace and tranquillity." - -Amid dogmatic governors and impenitent revolutionaries, this -president who desired a real federation and accepted, as a factor of -human conflicts, time, the creator of stable nations, seems a figure -strangely out of place. Rosas left "the elements of discord time to -destroy themselves"; an invulnerable dictator, he watched over the -obscure process of national gestation, isolating his people, -detesting the foreigner, as though he wished to prepare the way, free -from all perturbing influences, for the fusion of antagonistic races, -the purging of local hatreds, and the harmonious life of men, -traditions, and provinces within a plastic and fruitful organism. -From {142} chaos a spontaneous federation was to spring, of the North -American type; as in the formation of the United States, the -provinces, in possession of their autonomy, concluded pacts of union. -Such was the federal pact of 1831, between the provinces of the -seaboard--Corrientes, Entre-Rios, Buenos-Ayres, and Santa-Fé; such, -twenty years later, was the Constitution of 1853. - -Pacts and charters recognised "the sovereignty, liberty, and -independence of each of the provinces." - -The work of Rosas was profoundly Argentine. It presents a triple -civilising significance; it overcame the partial _caudillos_, -conquered the wilderness, and founded an organic confederation. -Traditional, for it respected ancient liberties; opportunist, adapted -at the critical moment of national evolution, for it prevented the -disaggregation of the provinces by the labours of unconscious -leaders. Like Porfirio Diaz, Rosas destroyed the provincial -_caudillos_; he was a Machiavelli of the pampas. He dissembled his -unificatory aims; he caused division among the governors, stimulated -their mutual hatred, presided over their quarrels; he grouped or -isolated his disciples, who cut a lively figure on the hustings. -When the power of Quiroga increased, he protected Lopez, and exposed -the former to the hatred of the Reinafé; Quiroga once murdered, he -had the latter accused. He expected the governors to submit to his -_exequatur_; the demi-gods fell before the stroke of his imperial -axe. "Rosas is the Louis XI. of Argentine history," said Ernesto -Quesada, with justice; for over the heads of the feudal barons he -raised a magnificent Unitarian structure; he was the creator of -Argentine nationality. - -[Illustration: ROSAS, THE ARGENTINE TYRANT. (1829-1852.) To face p. -142.] - -Rosas surrounded himself with chosen men: the Lopez, Anchorenas, -Mansillas, Sarrateas, Riglos. The cultivated classes demanded a -strong government, renounced their liberty with a Dionysiac {143} -delight, and conferred "unlimited power" upon Rosas. The tyrant -governed, in short, above the law and above custom. He enacted laws -to prohibit the carnival, that popular souvenir of the pagan -Bacchanalia, and to establish the rules of mourning; he himself was -the law, was reason, was the _logos_; intoxicated with docility, a -whole nation bowed before his Cæsarian will, without hierarchic -distinctions. His rule was a supreme levelling, a universal -servitude; the Terror. Rosas, impelled and favoured by the supreme -traditions of a race, became the Cæsar of a democracy. - -_Gauchos_ and negroes supported him; with the aid of the people he -subjected the ruling classes. He unified; he destroyed social -privileges; he inverted the order of the hierarchies in the -Unitarian, aristocratic city. His political methods were of the -simplest. Instinctively he applied infallible psychological truths. -He knew the power of repetition, of habit, of formulæ; he understood -the enervating effect of panic; the effect of vivid colours and -sounding words upon the half-breed mob. "Federation or death!" he -reiterated, in his proclamations. "Savages, infamous -Unitarians--impious Unitarians," one read day by day in the journals, -and in official documents; that vivid colour, red, was the symbol of -federalism. Rosas wrote to Lopez: "Repeat the word, savage! repeat -it to satiety, to boredom, to exhaustion." - -What such influences did not obtain was produced by that effectual -levelling agent, terror. Rosas crushed rebellious wills; he -overpowered his enemies, the impious, infamous, savage Unitarians; he -was the Jacobin of the Federation. A prætorian legion, the -_Mazorca_, chopped off such heads as raised themselves. He was a -fanatical democrat, a lay Inquisitor; if he discovered a political -heresy he condemned it without pity. As national _caudillo_ he {144} -protected religion, attracted the clergy, and attacked the -Unitarians, not only because they were savage, but also because they -were impious. Like Portales, he made a tool of religion. He -defended the "patrons," and condemned the Jesuits as conspirators, -not from religious motives. The clergy saw in him the man chosen by -God "to preside over the destinies of the country which saw his -birth." Rosas governed according to tradition and history by making -use of the hatred of the masses and classes, the fanaticism of the -mob, the servility of the natives; he was therefore a Catholic and a -democrat. - -Like all great American dictators, Rosas proved to be an eminent -administrator of the public finances. In a time of national -disturbance and military expenditure he displayed an extraordinary -zeal in organising and publishing the national accounts. His method -was simple rather than scrupulous; he appointed honest men to high -representative posts. The official journals published the fiscal -balance-sheet monthly; receipts and expenditure, the fluctuations of -paper-money, and the state of the national debt. Rosas was vigorous -in assuring the service of the external debt; he accumulated neither -loans nor fresh taxes. His economic policy was orderly and -far-seeing. To him we owe the construction of many of the public -works of Buenos-Ayres, including a magnificent promenade, Palermo, -where he built his autocratic residence. His invulnerable -dictatorship was based upon material progress and fiscal order. - -He was also the defender of the continent against European invasion. -Like Juarez and Guzman-Blanco, he professed a jealous individualism; -his work was bound up with race and territory. Continuing the -revolutionary movement of 1810, he desired not merely freedom from -Spain but autonomy against the whole world. - -In the twenty-four years, 1829 to 1852, Rosas {145} made federal -unity a reality. He was first of all governor and leader of the -_gauchos_; in 1835 he won the absolute power for five years, which -term was extended by several re-elections. Before him was the -anarchy of 1820 and the Unitarian bankruptcy of 1826; after him, the -powerful unity of 1853 and 1860, and the triumphal progress of the -Argentine democracy. Between this discord and this unity came his -fruitful despotism, a necessary Terror. His dictatorship was more -efficacious than the autocracy of Guzman-Blanco or the ecclesiastic -tyranny of Garcia-Moreno. Porfirio Diaz and Portales, two founders -of political unity, were his disciples. He was the builder of a -practicable federation, because he was a _gaucho_ and could interpret -the inner voices of his race; he governed as an American, without -borrowing anything from European methods. Without him anarchy would -have been perpetuated, and the vice-kingdom of La Plata would have -been irremediably disintegrated. Like the Roman deity Janus, Rosas -had two faces; he closed one epoch and opened another; a past of -warfare and terror and a future of unity, peace, democratic -development, and industrial progress. - -He defended the country against the territorial aggression of foreign -coalitions, and his own power against conspiracy and revolt; against -the avenging stanzas of Marmol, the aggressive journalism of Rivera -Indarte, and Varela, the rude pamphlets of Sarmiento, and the -meticulous dialectic of Alberdi. To Unitarian insult he opposed the -bloody campaign of the _Mazorqueros_; to European tutelage, the -individualism of the _gauchos_. - -Rivadavia was thesis, Facundo antithesis, Rosas synthesis. The first -represented absolute unity; the second, anarchical multiplicity; the -third, unity in multiplicity, plurality co-ordinated, union without -violent simplification. Rivadavia comprehended the {146} necessity -of the supremacy of Buenos-Ayres, built as it was upon the ocean that -brought men and wealth; he stood for the fundamental unity of La -Plata. Facundo, in the place of this premature unification, erected -the autonomous province, pure and simple, but diverse. Rosas brought -about the final harmony of the forces of Argentine politics. He -united, like Rivadavia; he separated, like Facundo; he dominated the -capital city, and moderated provincialism; he painfully founded the -Confederation. His renown reached Europe; Lord Palmerston was his -friend; great foreign journals, such as the Times, the _Journal des -Débats_, the _Revue des Deux-Mondes_, discussed his policy and his -influence. Alberdi recognised that he contributed to the repute of -the Argentine abroad by his heroic defence of his territory. His -cruelty was effectual, his barbarism patriotic. - - "_Como hombre te perdono mi carcel y cadenas; - Pero como Argentine, las de mi patria, no!_"[2] - -cried Marmol. They were necessary chains, for they bound the country -together after the feudal dispersion, vanquished the resolvent forces -of provincialism, and gave unity and strength to democracy. - -After Rosas, his political work, the confederation, survives in spite -of the ambitions of Buenos-Ayres. A logical development confirms the -ties that unite the provinces, grouping and organising all the -national forces about the capital city. In eighty-six years, from -the anarchy of 1820 to the glory of the Centenary, the Argentine has -seen a transformation of race, of policy, of wealth, of culture, of -history; Argentina is now a great Latin nation, which will soon -possess the moral and intellectual hegemony of South America. - - -[1] Carlos Octavio Bunge, in his remarkable book, _Nuestra America_, -gives the struggle between the capital and the provinces a racial and -economic character. He distinguishes three periods of evolution: -from 1810 to 1816 the Creole half-breeds contend with the "Goths"; -from 1816 to 1825 the rural masses rise against the rich middle -classes of the provinces; from 1825 to 1830 Buenos-Ayres--the capital -city, rich, and Creole--enters upon a conflict with the provincial -cities--Indian or mestizo. - -[2] "As man I forgive you my prison and my chains, but as Argentine, -those of my country--no!" - - - - -{147} - -BOOK III - - _THE PRINCIPLE OF AUTHORITY IN MEXICO, - CHILI, BRAZIL, AND PARAGUAY_ - - -These republics have stood aside from the normal evolution of -Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia; they have known neither perpetual -revolutions nor lasting anarchy. Social progress has been -accomplished under the pressure of long-continued tutelage; the -principle of authority has been a safeguard against disorder and -licence. These are the more stable and less liberal peoples. In -them liberty is not a spontaneous gift by charter, but something won -from selfish oligarchies or tenacious despots. Such is the case in -Mexico, Chili, Brazil, and Paraguay. - - - - -{149} - -CHAPTER I - -MEXICO: THE TWO EMPIRES--THE DICTATORS - -The Emperor Iturbide--The conflicts between Federals and -Unitarians--The Reformation--The foreign Emperor--The dictatorship of -Porfirio Diaz--Material progress and servitude--The Yankee influence. - - -In Mexico we find an alternation of revolutions and dictators. The -principle of authority is supreme; it even gives rise to two empires -and a permanent presidency; there has always been a well-organised -monarchical party. Modern Mexico demonstrates the excellence of -strong governments in a divided continent. - -The Aztec nation was born into freedom in 1821, after the -capitulations of Cordoba. The Viceroy O'Donoju recognised the -triumph of Iturbide, and the rights of Mexico; the Spanish leader and -the patriot _caudillo_ decided upon the creation of an empire which -should conserve the rights of Ferdinand VII., like the _juntas_ of -South America; the creation of a constituent congress, and the -nomination of a provisional government, which should preside over the -destinies of the nation during the indecision of the twilight of the -old _régime_. - -Iturbide very shortly came forward as an incarnation of the national -characteristics; he was actuated by an imperious ambition, and -haunted by the triumphs of Napoleon. He had studied the classics, -and was a brilliant and persuasive orator. His courage and activity -and his dominating character {150} won him a sudden popularity. -Bolivar, in a letter to Riva-Agüero, said: "Bonaparte in Europe, -Iturbide in America: these are the two most extraordinary men that -modern history has to offer." The clergy, the Mexican nobility, the -troops, and the lower classes, who regarded him as the liberator of -their country, flocked around him. Congress was in part hostile; -Generals Bustamente and Santa-Ana supported him in the Assembly; -Generals Victoria and Guerrero attacked him. The deputies understood -that he aspired to absolutism, and that he aimed at becoming the heir -to the overlords of Anahouac. A prætorian revolution proclaimed him -"Constitutional Emperor of Mexico" on May 21, 1822. The political -opinion of the country was divided. The monarchists wanted a Spanish -prince; the republicans a federation, a democracy with full -liberties. Of these latter Iturbide said: "They were my enemies -because I was opposed to the establishment of a government which -would not have suited Mexico. Nature has produced nothing suddenly; -she acts by successive stages."[1] The Emperor responded to the -aspirations of the populace, and flattered the imagination of the -crowd by the pomp and pageantry of his coronation, and the splendour -of his Court; he was the national monarch, the creator of his -country, as were the feudal kings in Europe. Convinced of his -prestige and impelled by ambition, he dissolved Congress. -Thenceforward his government was menaced by _caudillos_, who defended -the violated constitution. Iturbide abdicated in May, 1823, and when -he returned to his country the sentence of death pronounced upon him -by contumacy was enforced. He was executed by shooting in 1824. - -[Illustration: PASEO DE LA REFORMA, CITY OF MEXICO, ON INDEPENDENCE -DAY. (_From "Latin America, the Land of Opportunity," by the Hon. -John Barrett._)] - -Santa-Ana, who had directed the revolution against the Emperor, was -the Mexican _caudillo_, as Facundo was the _caudillo_ of the -Argentine pampas, or Paez {151} of the Venezuelan plains. He -professed no definite political doctrines; he was, first of all, a -radical reformer, but afterwards, with prudent opportunism, he -accepted the ideas of the conservatives. Crafty, ambitious, -ignorant, a democrat by instinct, he finally became the fetish of the -mob, the hero of the civil wars; as president, as general, as supreme -authority, he governed his divided country. Between Iturbide and -Juarez, between emperor and reformer, he was for twenty years a -sombre and overpowering figure. His triumph in 1824 ratified the -policy of federalism; the Constitution recognised two chambers; the -presidential term was four years; the judicial power was irremovable, -and the provincial assemblies elected the national Senate. Under -this system General Victoria became president. It was then that a -fear of Spain and the monarchy resulted in a policy of -_rapprochement_ with the great Northern republic. The _yorkina_ -lodges, radical in spirit, acquired considerable influence, and -worked in favour of a North American hegemony; the prestige of the -ancient Scotch lodges, on the other hand, decreased. - -Santa-Ana led a new revolution which gave the Presidency to General -Guerrero; General Bustamente was Vice-President. The economic crisis -was accentuated by these successive revolts; the Government was -carried on by means of onerous loans; the increasing debt drained the -Treasury, and discontent evoked another revolution. A supporter of -Iturbide, General Bustamente, autocratic and conservative, was -proclaimed President; he had the previous ruler, Guerrero, shot, -stifled the provincial rebellions, and re-established internal order. -A civil war forced him, in 1832, to compromise with the director of -all these political conflicts, Santa-Ana. - -With him the liberals triumphed, and a social transformation -commenced. The liberals were the "new men," as in Venezuela, under -Guzman. The {152} colonial oligarchy, the republican bureaucracy, -the high clergy, and the wealthy classes composed the conservative -group which had founded the Empire with Iturbide, and desired royalty -with Lucas-Alaman. Against them rose the reforming democracy, -liberal or radical; it was a conflict of principles and classes. The -lawyers, the lesser clergy, and the coloured middle classes gained -the upper hand in 1833, and the great economic, social, and religious -reformation commenced; Juarez was presently to give it the dignity of -constitutionalism. In the struggle against the conservative and -monarchical Church the liberals disregarded ecclesiastical -jurisdiction, confiscated by mortmain the goods of the religious -communities, promoted lay education, and secularised the reactionary -University, as Garcia Moreno in Ecuador condemned the liberal -University, and, impelled by a pernicious radicalism, they suppressed -the army of a nation a prey to anarchy. - -After Santa-Ana a coloured _caudillo_, Benito Juarez, was the leader -of the reformers (1839), and with him the liberal movement took on a -profoundly racial character. Juarez represented the natives, the -democracy, as against the colonial oligarchy; like Tupuc-Amaru, he -was the redeemer of the Indians; like Las Casas, the protector of the -vanquished. Better than Guzman-Blanco and Rosas he realised the -ideal of those American republics which were oppressed by memories of -colonial days; hatred of all privilege, a dream of absolute liberty, -war upon the tutelary Church, and a strict despotism designed to -create classes and ideals. - -He proclaimed the separation of Church and State, and the -confiscation of ecclesiastical property. Lerdo de Tejada was the -economist and ideologist of the Reformation; Juarez was its muscle, -its iron will; he realised without compromise the old liberal -programme. Congress, divided into Juarists and anti-Juarists, {153} -elected him President. All the laws against the Church were applied, -but that did not enrich the country. Stock-jobbing, scandals, waste, -and bankruptcy accumulated and formed a terrible argument against the -"pure" liberals; the latter defended themselves by means of -proscriptions and new and violent laws of reform. Once more the -shadow of the Empire hovered over the turbulent democracy. - -It was no longer a question of the national Empire of Montezuma or -Iturbide, but of the foreign eagles. Napoleon III., a conqueror by -family tradition, intervened in Mexican affairs; like Louis-Philippe, -he desired colonies oversea; he defended the Latin civilisation -against the Yankee peril, protected the Church against the -Reformation, and extended over barbarous countries the amiable empire -of the French spirit, the spirit of lucidity, method, and harmony.[2] -In 1861 the Mexican Congress suspended the service of the debt, as a -remedy against financial bankruptcy, and this measure provoked French -intervention; there was a crusade of ambitious creditors against -Mexico. England and Spain signed an agreement in London; both were -enemies of the insolvent democracy. The hatred of Mexico was then -excited against Spain; the Spanish Minister was expelled; the federal -Government refused to treat with the Spanish _chargé d'affaires_. -The Reformation general, Zaragoza, organised the country for defence -against the Spanish invasion; he was victorious at Puebla. The -Mexican resistance was concentrated upon the central plateau, where -dwelt the _penates_ of ancient Mexico. Zaragoza died; Puebla, -attacked by the French, defended itself heroically; the national war -became also a civil war. The monarchists desired a prince, the -restoration of the Catholic Church, and {154} the consolidation of -the conservative oligarchy; the clergy shared their ambitions. The -Archduke Maximilian arrived, to whom the conservatives had offered -the throne of Iturbide, and from 1863 to 1864, after some hardly -contested battles, the invaders ruled the country. Maximilian, -surrounded by the aristocrats, triumphantly entered the Aztec -capital, and the people, overpowered by the splendour of the new -court, accepted the foreign monarch. - -This monarch, pompous and ambitious, wished, like Napoleon III., to -found a "liberal empire," a democratic kingdom; he did not condemn -the Reformation, but professed to be anxious to assist it and to -purge it of its Jacobin origin. Heir to the viceroys and dictators, -Maximilian re-established the right of "patronage" and favoured -religious tolerance. A few reformers applauded his liberalism, but -neither liberals nor conservatives were satisfied; the former because -they had dreamed of a secular republic, the latter because they -wished for a clerical monarchy. The revolution continued. The -Emperor, effaced like any Mikado, did not govern; his tycoon, General -Bazaine, at the head of a French army, was the real source of -authority. - -[Illustration: BENITO JUAREZ. President of Mexico in the struggle -against the French invasion. To face p. 154.] - -His presidential term ending in 1865, Juarez proclaimed himself -Dictator in order to continue his resistance against the Empire, -which, between a monarch and a general, between the discontented -clericals and the aggressive reformers, was tottering to its fall. -The North American Republic condemned the monarchy in the name of the -Monroe doctrine: this was intervention against intervention. The War -of Secession in the United States was over, and the States feared -their Imperial neighbour. From that time fortune abandoned the -Mexican monarch. Napoleon III. had occasion to withdraw his troops; -Prussia, ambitious of hegemony in Europe, and victorious at Sadowa, -was causing him {155} uneasiness. He advised Maximilian to abdicate; -but the Emperor was by no means willing to give way; he had become a -reactionary, and vigorously defended his Imperial dignity. The -tragic hour of desertion and disaster struck, and the Mexican -revolution was prolonged (1866). Porfirio Diaz, escaping from -Puebla, which was besieged by the French, organised the reconquest of -Mexico at Guerrero. Sombre and virile, he took refuge on the high -plateau, as did the Gothic king in the mountains of Asturia. He -captured Puebla after a day's glorious fighting. Surrounded by -Republican troops, Maximilian took refuge at Queretaro; he was taken -prisoner with his army and the best of his generals. He was -condemned to death, and Juarez, inflexible as the Aztec gods, refused -to show mercy. The Emperor was executed at Queretaro on the 19th of -June, 1867. On the following day Mexico yielded to the legions of -Diaz. The Reformation had vanquished two emperors and erected two -scaffolds. In these struggles Juarez, the half-breed _caudillo_, and -Porfirio Diaz, the invincible general, had acquired a lasting -influence, and Juarez, as President and Dictator, proceeded to -organise the country. He strengthened the executive power against -anarchy, endeavoured to found a conservative Senate, maintained order -by means of a disciplined army, and improved the condition of -finances by severe economies. His ministers, better educated and -more intelligent than their leader, realised sweeping reforms while -he gathered the victorious generals about him. The new Government -entrusted the Preparatory School to a great educator, Gabino Barreda; -like Rivadavia in the Argentine, it applied itself to the moral and -material transformation of the country. It protected foreign -capital, established liberty of trade, favoured colonisation, -fostered irrigation, and commenced to build a railway from Vera-Cruz -{156} to Mexico. The ideal of Juarez was the education of the native -race, the nucleus of nationality; like Alberdi, he believed that -Protestantism would be a fruitful moral doctrine for the Indians. -"They need," he told Don Justo Sierra, "a religion which will force -them to read, not to spend their money on candles for the saints." -He established an industrial democracy, a secular State. - -But between his political ideas and his dictatorial acts there was a -discrepancy which explains the ultimate sterility of his efforts. -"The only book he had read thoroughly was the _Politics_ of Benjamin -Constant, the apology of the parliamentary system."[3] Juarez relied -upon the democracy, on the governing Chambers; he aspired to a -position like that of a constitutional monarch; that of a glorified -spectator of the quarrels of parties. His ideas urged him toward -parliamentarism; his ambitions, to dictatorship. He professed to -conciliate all the national interests, to be the personification of -the Mexican democracy, but his dislikes were mean and paltry. -Severe, impassive, a great personality in his strength and his silent -tenacity, he had no great ideals; he was no orator, no leader of the -subject crowd. He was merely the supreme _cacique_ of a half-breed -nation. - -[Illustration: JOSÉ IVES LIMANTOUR. Minister of Finance during the -Administration of General Diaz in Mexico. To face p. 156.] - -Despite his government, anarchy continued in the States. The -soldiers who had conquered in the national war disturbed the domestic -peace of the nation by their ambitions; in Yucutan, Sonora, and -Puebla revolutions broke out, which Juarez energetically suppressed. -His presidential term at an end, he aspired to re-election, and -defeated Lerdo de Tejada, the financier, and the warrior Diaz; but -his victory was not lasting. The great revolution in which Diaz -figured commenced, and Juarez died in the midst of the struggle for -power. Lerdo de Tejada, who continued the reforms already {157} -commenced, was the next President; with him liberal principles -figured definitely in the Mexican constitution. Lerdo strengthened -the central power, and started a campaign against the _cacicazgos_, -the tyrants of the Sierra, and founded a tutelary Senate. He, like -Juarez, aspired to re-election, and a fresh rising at Tuxtepec -prepared the way for his fall. The Supreme Court considered itself -authorised to examine the titles of the presidential candidates, and -invalidated his re-election. By 1877 the Revolution had conquered -the country. - -It imposed upon Mexico the hero of the re-conquest, Porfirio Diaz, -who became the new national _caudillo_, inheriting the Imperial -ambitions of Iturbide, the craft of Santa-Ana, and the moral -dictatorship of Juarez. - -The country was disorganised, its credit in the European markets was -destroyed; its national finances were in disorder. The blood-stained -soil was divided among petty _caciques_; radicalism led to demagogy -and liberty to anarchy. Jacobinism had triumphed with the -Revolution, and condemned the re-election of presidents and the -conservative Senate; the omnipotence of the popular Chamber was -proclaimed. The result was a feeble and ephemeral government; in the -absence of a moderating power the radical Assembly was supreme. A -man was needed to organise chaos; Porfirio Diaz was the necessary -autocrat, the "representative man" of Emerson. - -Stern and gloomy, he was preparing for the priesthood. Born in 1830, -he was brought up in poverty. A half-breed, he combined the courage -of the Iberian with the dissimulation of the native. He knew the -efficacy of work, perseverance, and method; he was extremely -ignorant, but was shrewd and perspicacious. He was six times elected -President, for the last time in 1900, and peace was coterminous {158} -with his rule. A great hunter and a master of manly exercises, his -intensity of will-power was supported by solid physical foundations. -Above all he was a man of action; his character was served by a -robust organisation; a powerful frame and a vast power of resistance -enabled him to rule and to intimidate. His intelligence applied -itself to concrete things; it was unable to examine facts in the -transforming light of an ideal; he had no general ideas, no spacious -plans; he was slow in deliberation and rapid in action. His politics -were an organised Machiavellism; like Louis XL, he divided that he -might reign and dissembled that he might conquer. His ideas of -government were simple: "Not much politics and plenty of -administration," said his deeds and his programmes. - -Machiavelli, in _The Prince_, taught the means of ruling in states -which have had autonomous governments; he suggested the implacable -extermination of the reigning families. General Diaz followed this -counsel in part. To overcome anarchy he attacked the obscure tyrants -of the provinces, and had them shot or exiled, or else he attached -them to himself by means of honours and rewards. He imposed peace by -means of terror. He knew that order was the practical basis of -progress, as in the formula of Comte, which the Mexicans are fond of -quoting, and this order he firmly established. - -The destruction of the revolutionary instinct constituted the -negative side of his work; Diaz built upon this foundation an -industrial republic, practical and laborious. Weary of barren -ideologies, he put the Reformation and its Jacobin doctrines out of -his mind, accepted and encouraged the Yankee influence which had made -Lerdo de Tejada so uneasy, conquered barbarism and the desert by -means of the railway, and raised a number of loans. He was the -president of an industrial epoch. - -{159} - -His economic labours were imposing; in twenty-five years Mexico was -transformed from a divided republic into a modern State, from a -bankrupt nation into a prosperous and highly solvent people. Diaz -recalls the gods who built cities and filled the earth with the gold -of fruitful grain, and taught the virtues of the metals and of fire. -"Modern Mexico," writes the _Times_ in 1909, "is the creation of the -genius of General Diaz; he is the greatest statesman the -transatlantic Latin communities have produced since their -foundation." This organiser of peace astonished the old-established -nations, who listened attentively to the fruitful words of light -which fell from the lips of the Aztec demigod. - -In 1884 Diaz commenced to reorganise the finances of his country. He -was seconded in his task by eminent secretaries like Limantour and -clever financiers like Romero and Macedo. The gold of the United -States invaded the market; it was employed in the construction of -railways and in industrial undertakings. In 1905 Limantour -established the gold standard as basis of the monetary system. The -service of the debt was regularised by agreement with foreign -creditors; the budgets ceased to present deficits; in ten years the -surplus reached a sum of seven million pesos. By 1894 the exports -were in excess of the imports. Thanks to this favourable commercial -balance, credit increased, and industries were multiplied; the -exuberant national prosperity attracted foreign capital and settled -it in the country. Here are some figures touching this progress. In -1876, at the beginning of Diaz's rule, the Mexican imports amounted -to 28 millions of pesos (silver) and the exports to 32 millions; in -1901 the amount of the former was 143 millions and of the latter 148 -millions. The imports, a proof of the wealth of the {160} country, -had increased fivefold; the exports, a sign of agricultural and -mineral production, had increased almost in proportion. In twenty -years (1880-1900) the yield of the mining industry increased from 24 -to 60 millions, and in the same period 20 banks were founded. A loan -of 40 million dollars was contracted in 1904, being issued at 94, -bearing 4 per cent interest, on the sole security of the national -credit; that is, the security usual in such transactions in the case -of the great European nations. In ten years the budget has doubled, -increasing from 50 to 100 millions. The surplus of the fiscal -revenue is devoted to decreasing the burden of taxation, and in -providing the country with fine and spacious public edifices. The -service of the foreign debt has been secured with a continuity rare -in America, more than 30 per cent. of certain budgets having been -used for that purpose. The result of the industrial evolution of the -country is proving to the detriment of agriculture, as in the Germany -of Bismarck and the Russia of Count Witte; looms, paper-mills, -hat-factories, &c., have been established. The national requirements -being satisfied, the products of agriculture are exported--tobacco, -rubber, and sugar. The network of railways is being greatly -extended, and irrigation works are being installed. Colonies of -Boers have settled in Mexico. The invasion of capital goes on -unchecked, as does the development of the economic life of the -country, and its political progress, revealed by its external credit. - -Thus, the President, by means of sound money, steady finance, and -foreign gold, has founded a practical republic. He has overcome the -traditional revolts--the ardour of the Jacobins and racial -passions--by a utilitarian campaign; he has created a quiet and -peaceful State, in which nothing is to be heard but the sound of its -factories. A great {161} leveller, he has been, according to the -Spanish tradition, a Cæsar at the head of a democracy, the arbiter of -national conflicts, the supreme _caudillo_, obedient to the voices of -tradition. - -Sierra, the Athenian minister, and Bulnes, the tempestuous historian, -exalt him in admirable dithyrambics. Sierra states that Diaz created -"the political religion of peace." But in the Aztec nation this cult -demands its sacrifices. Bulnes considers that the Dictator procured -peace by "the system of Augustus as expounded by Machiavelli"; he -gave the _caciques_ "riches and honours," but not the government. -And, in fact, Porfirio Diaz has built up the new Mexico by freeing it -from the sectarian struggles and the foreign invasion which -threatened to destroy it; but his work has been marred by -uncertainty, and a heavy shadow has weighed on uneasy spirits.[4] -The President at last abdicated his powers after a bloody revolution, -and it is not easy to say whether or no his removal will not result -in anarchy or new Dictators. His minister, Sierra, has written that -the political system of the Dictator "is terribly dangerous for the -future, for it imposes customs which are contrary to self-government, -without which there may be great men, but not a great people"; and -Bulnes says: "The personal _régime_ is magnificent as an exception," -for "under its empire a people grows accustomed to expect everything -as a favour and a grace; to be the slave of the first who strikes it, -or the shameless prostitute of the first to caress it." - -These criticisms prove that General Diaz has not applied the British -methods of preparation for self-government by means of a firm -tutelage. Those who condemn his long autocracy say that he enervated -{162} men's minds by means of terror, and has accentuated the Aztec -gloom by a narrow and monotonous absolutism. Dictatorships are not -societies of freemen; they give humanity uniformity and servility. -In abandoning the supreme power after establishing order and peace, -by presiding as moral authority over the free development of -republican institutions, Porfirio Diaz, like Don Pedro in Brazil, -might have been the supreme educator of the democracy. - -He governed with the aid of the "scientific" party--a group which -believes in the virtue and power of science, exiles theology and -metaphysics, denies mystery, and confesses utilitarianism as its -practice and positivism as its doctrine. The Mexican politicians, in -renouncing Catholicism after the Reformation and the passing of the -Jacobin laws, have not abandoned dogma and absolutism in doctrine and -in life. As in modern Brazil, positivism in becoming the official -doctrine. The heirs of Juarez are slowly returning to Catholicism; -they aspire to definite certitudes; they have their "Syllabus." In -the President political majesty and the religious pontificate were -united, as in the Muscovite Czars and the Spanish kings. - -In the restoration of the colonial order Juarez and Lerdo de Tejada -attracted European capital, for the Yankee supremacy troubled them. -Against this policy, which was based on racial interests, General -Diaz protected North American capital; bankers and adventurers -invaded the country, dominated its industries, and built railways. -How check the fatal current which brings the all-conquering gold from -the North? The national transformation is the work of the magnates -of Wall Street; Mexico is becoming a "zone of influence" for the -United States. - -[Illustration: GENERAL PORFIRIO DIAZ. President of Mexico (1876-1880 -and 1884-1909). To face p. 162.] - -The scientific party, intoxicated by an orgy of utilitarianism, has -not sought to arrest the great {163} plutocracy of the North by means -of European alliances. - -Unity, wealth, peace: these are the magnificent features of modern -Mexico, the admirable work of the Dictatorship. The Yankee peril; -lay dogmas which fetter intellectual evolution; a level of -utilitarian mediocrity without ideals of expansion, without culture, -without the true Latin characteristics; popular ignorance and fresh -revolutions: these are the disturbing aspects of this long period of -tutelage. If the country triumphs over the obscure agents of -dissolution, the influence of Porfirio Diaz will be as durable as -that of Pedro II. or Portales or Rosas. - - -[1] _Memoires autographes_, Paris, 1824, p. 28. - -[2] The brilliant Mexican historian Bulnes states that French -intervention was "the revolt of Napoleon III. against the Monroe -doctrine" (_El verdadero Juarez_, Mexico, 1904, p. 816). - -[3] Bulnes, ibid., p. 101. - -[4] Diaz pacified Mexico by means of the weapon employed by -Rosas--fear. Bandits and revolutionaries were shot. His victims are -said to have numbered 11,000. - - - - -{164} - -CHAPTER II - -CHILI: A REPUBLIC OF THE ANGLO-SAXON TYPE - -Portales and the oligarchy--The ten-years Presidency--Montt and his -influence--Balmaceda the Reformer. - - -In Chili the course of political evolution has been entirely -original. Her first years of republican life were as troublous as -those of the Argentine, Bolivia, and Peru; it was an age of anarchy. -Carrera, the dictator, overthrew four governments; there were -mutinies in the barracks, and quarrels among the generals; the -Dictator O'Higgins fell in 1823; a _junta_ followed him, and after -the _junta_ four governors, Freire, Blanco Encalada, Eyzaguirre, and -Vicuña--ephemeral figures which a turbulent democracy set up and -destroyed. They occupied the centre of the moving scene for some few -months, and were seen no more. During the administration of Pinto, -from 1827 to 1829, there were no less than five revolutions. -Federation was attempted in a country essentially Unitarian; the -Congresses were disruptive assemblies; and in 1828 and 1829 an -obscure demagogy rose in revolt against the guardians of social -order. The national life was chaotic: vandalism in the country, -commerce paralysed, industry at a standstill, finance in disorder, -credit vanished, and politics revolutionary. The parties were -struggling for power; the "old wigs," _pelucones_, or conservatives, -and the "white-beaks," _pipiolos_, or liberals. The latter governed -a people {165} in love with liberty. The political orgy continued -until 1830; the Chilian people went from liberty to licence, and from -licence to barbarism. At last the demagogy was checked by a man of -superior powers, Diego Portales, founder of the Araucanian nation. - -[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, SANTIAGO, CHILE. (_From "Latin -America, the Land of Opportunity" by the Hon. John Barrett._) To face -p. 164.] - -The social constitution of Chili, the contact of the castes, and the -traditions of the country all favoured his work of organisation. A -narrow territory, whose racial action must be unifying, and a long -coast-line, evoking the desire of adventure and expansion; these are -the geographical basis of a homogeneous race. The Araucanians do not -exhibit the gloomy passivity of the Quechuas and Aymaras; they are -rude and warlike. Miscegenation has not, as in Peru and Brazil, been -complicated by Asiatic and African strains; it has been simple, -without the terrible "hybridisms" of other countries. Hence national -unity and historical continuity. Over the servile mass reigns, -haughty and remote, a narrow oligarchy formed of austere and positive -Basques, deliberate Anglo-Saxons, merchants, and sailors. - -No slaves, as in the tropics, but _inquilinos_, feudal serfs of -territorial barons. The oligarchy is agricultural, and therefore -stable and profoundly national. In short, we have a copy of -Anglo-Saxon society, or of the first Roman Republic; a false -democracy governed by absolute overlords. - -With these strong conservative elements, Portales constructed an -austere nation. He was born in 1793, and was thirty-seven years old -at the time of his first intervention in political life. He was a -"new" man, a merchant, with precise ideas. He had the suggestive -power of the _caudillos_, a concrete intelligence, a moderate -education, a strong will, some power of reflection and authority. He -might well become the leader of a race that knew nothing of lyric -enthusiasms nor enticing dreams--the sensible {166} director of a -practical people. Minister under Ovalle in 1830, he profited by the -victory of General Prieto over the _pipiolos_. His conservative, -authoritative ideas carried him into power. He never wished to be -President, but a powerful minister, like Disraeli or Bismarck. Three -or four simple and concrete ideas guided him in politics; in the -first place, the organisation of Chili against anarchy. Religion is -one of the forces of order, and Portales, like Garcia-Moreno, -utilised it without going so far as theocracy; the principle of -authority is necessary in order to organise a country, and the leader -of the _pelucones_ demanded a strong executive with extraordinary -faculties. Between two excesses--autocracy and demagogy--he inclined -rather toward the former, and became a minister-dictator. - -Portales governed against disorder; he dismissed the revolutionary -leaders, and men he divided into good and bad. He surrounded himself -with "good" men: they were, naturally, conservatives. He hated -_sargentadas_ (barrack mutinies); he educated the soldiers, and -founded a national guard as a counter-check to militarism. He -destroyed the bandits who infested the country. Primary and normal -schools were opened, in which he favoured religious instruction. A -severe economy was introduced into the national finances. His work -was given legal and economic form by a Peruvian jurist, Juan Egana, -and a Minister of Finance, Tocornal. - -The minister wished his work to share the majesty of things eternal; -his personal and passing influence on life was not enough to satisfy -him. He had thoughts of a statute, an inflexible mould for the -future. The Constitution of 1833, which others promulgated under his -sovereign ægis, so to speak, was his political legacy. - -This Constitution created a conservative Senate and a strong -Executive; the first was to defend tradition, {167} the second to -direct the progress of the nation. The provincial assemblies, -vestiges of federalism, were suppressed, and the municipalities were -entrusted with the public services. In case of internal trouble, the -President could declare a state of siege and suspend the -constitutional guarantees; but he could neither judge nor apply -penalties. The departments elected the deputies; a limited suffrage -appointed the senators; their mandate was for nine years. Patronage -was organised, and the Church became a State institution, for it -defended property, order, and the "good ideas" of the _pelucones_: it -consecrated the oligarchy, pure and simple. - -This Constitution explains the slow progress of Chili in matters of -liberalism, her long domestic peace, and the lasting hegemony of an -oligarchic group. Alberdi attributed the Chilian peace to "a -vigorous Executive" and the Constitution of 1833. - -This statute once a reality, Portales quietly organised the country; -he imposed order "by reason or by force." He retired from power, -and, in consequence, the conservative party passed through a crisis, -during which Rengijo and Tocornal were in conflict; but Portales -reappeared, as Minister of War, under Prieto, and Tocornal, the -eminent financier, was at his side. The _caudillo_ of order resumed -his work of organisation with incomparable activity; his patriotic -ambition was not satisfied by his triumphs over intestine quarrels. -He realised that Chili was a maritime nation, commercial and -oligarchical, like Carthage, and he aspired to the domination of the -ocean. - -In the north, under the leadership of Santa-Cruz, Peru and Bolivia -had united. Portales feared this confederation, intervened in the -affairs of Peru, sent two expeditions against Santa-Cruz, and -fomented anarchy in Peru. He destroyed the great work of the great -Bolivian _cacique_, and for half a century {168} his imperialism made -progress. Peru had wealth, brilliance, and tradition; Chili deprived -her of the hegemony of the Pacific in a four-years war (1879-84). - -The work of Portales was considerable. He established peace in the -interior, and excited the ambition to rule; he organised the country -under a strong authority, aided by a tutelary Church; he fostered -wealth and material progress; he built highways and railroads. A -Constitution was to establish his moral dictatorship for a period of -fifty years. The liberals themselves--Lastarria, Huneeus -Gana--recognised his masterly action in a time of disorder. A -conservative, Walker Martinez, wrote a brilliant _apologia_ for his -work. Vicuña Mackenna, the historian, wrote that "he was rather a -great mind than a great character," though his life's work, from the -repression of anarchy to the Peruvian war, proves plainly that he was -rather a great character than a great mind. Portales died in 1833 by -the hand of an assassin. - -Manuel Montt continued his political work. His minister, Antonio -Varas, assisted him, as Tocornal had assisted the leader of the -_pelucones_. These conservative minds began to govern in 1851, and -the re-election of Montt in 1856 prolonged their term of action; this -was the "Decenniate," a period of bloodstained autocracy. The -Monttvarists became a national party; they defended order to the -death, by violence and dictatorship, first of all against the -radicals, and later against the radicals and the _pelucones_. These -ten years of disastrous organisation divided two periods: the -conservative period of Prieto and Portales, and the liberal period of -Perez and Errazuriz. - -A liberalism better defined than that of the _pipiolos_ was causing -the champions of order some uneasiness. The eloquence of a tribune, -Matta, the patriarch of {169} radicalism, the propaganda of Bilbao -and Lastarria, and the work of revolutionary clubs, such as the -"Society of Equality," formed a party of romantic youth eager to -sacrifice itself for its ideals. Montt and Varas opposed it, and -exiled or condemned to death the future liberals--Santa-Maria, Vicuña -Mackenna, &c. They considered that Chili was not yet sufficiently -prepared for the theoretical liberties upheld by Lastarria and -Bilbao; they sought to promote education of the British type, with a -view to liberty and self-government. They were the representative -personages of the Creole oligarchy, a powerful conservative force, -rude and beneficent. Dictatorial repression did not destroy -liberalism; the presidents of the future were to be liberals, and -Montt himself slowly changed the direction of his policy. In 1858, -in the last years of the decenniate, the _pelucones_ attacked him -because he tolerated the Protestant religion in Valparaiso. - -Under the Monttvarist government, as under the dictatorship of -Guzman-Blanco and Garcia-Moreno, the country progressed in an -economic sense. Railways, highroads, and telegraph lines were -constructed. Montt fostered agriculture and the colonisation of the -soil in the south by means of credit banks; he opened nearly five -hundred schools, and also founded a national bank. Maritime commerce -increased, and the public revenue was doubled during the Decenniate; -finally, the admirable civil code of Andres Bello, promulgated in -1857, gave discipline and stability to the civil life of the country. -Portales, Bello, Montt, and Varas organised Chili both politically -and socially. - -After Montt, the presidencies of Perez, in 1861, of Errazuriz, in -1871, and of Santa Maria, in 1881, modified the conservative -tendencies of the country. All the conquests of the liberals--the -civil register, civil marriage, religious toleration--became laws of -{170} the State. Liberalism has not lessened the presidential -authority. Perez, like Montt, ruled for ten years. Long autocracies -and conservative constitutions explain the strength of Chili amid the -anarchy of South America. - -Portales was the organising genius; Montt represented an epoch of -social defence; Balmaceda was the democratic reformer in an -oligarchic country, a liberal president in a time of conservative -traditions. Balmaceda is the greatest Chilian figure after Portales; -his presidency excited a revolution, and transformed the political -life of his people. - -José Manuel Balmaceda belonged to the Chilian oligarchy. He was -descended from a very old colonial family. Juan de Balmaceda was -president of the _Real Audienca_, the king's tribunal, towards the -end of the eighteenth century. The name of the family reveals its -Basque origin. Balmaceda was born in Santiago in 1838. His father, -Don Manuel José Balmaceda, was a conservative, the possessor of vast -_latifundia_, as the head of a traditional family. - -Balmaceda adopted democratic ideas. "Apostate" the conservatives -called him, forgetting that he had changed his doctrines, but had not -abandoned his original mysticism; he believed in liberty as he had -previously believed in the inflexible dogmas of the conservatives. -He belonged to the Reform Club of Santiago, in which a brilliant -younger generation upheld all the liberal idelas and romantic faiths -of 1848, the antitheses of the ideas of the _pelucones_ and the -Monttvarists. To the despotic executive he opposed electoral -liberty, a single-term presidency, autonomous municipalities, and the -restriction of presidential powers; to the Catholic oligarchy, -religious tolerance; to the traditions of authority, the formal -recognition of the rights of the press and the rights of assembly, -meeting and petition; to the confusion of the powers of the State, -their independence. {171} Balmaceda was the president of the Reform -Club. He did not attack the position of a traditional group with -plebeian fervour, as the avenger of an age of servitude; he left -their ranks, rich and patrician, to condemn their authority and their -privileges. It is the attitude of Winston Churchill in liberal -England. - -Balmaceda had powerful tools at his disposal: personal wealth, the -basis of independence, a sympathetic creed, and a party which had -been growing powerful under the governments of Perez and Errazuriz. - -We may distinguish three phases in his political action: as a deputy -he championed the laws of reform; as Minister of Foreign Affairs he -prevented the intervention of the United States in the Pacific war; -as President he increased the presidential power against the tyranny -of Congress. From 1870 to 1879 he was an impassioned -parliamentarian, believing in the efficacy of liberty against the -excesses of the conservative _régime_. In the Chamber, as deputy and -as Minister of the Interior and Religions, he supported the legal -measures of the liberals: secular burial, civil register and -marriage, and liberty of worship. In place of an absolute separation -of Church and State--not to be realised in Chili--he proposed the -union of the two powers on the basis of the traditional "patronage" -and religious liberty. He desired no radical reforms. "Let us -renounce," he said, "the idea of accomplishing everything in a short -space of time; let us beware of carrying our solutions, guided by a -spirit of rigorous abstraction, beyond what is required by the actual -needs of the moment for the correct application of liberal doctrine -and for the common happiness." Balmaceda, a radical in 1879, -moderated his ambitions ten years later, when he came to ask the -Chilian Parliament to pass his reforms. - -{172} - -Minister of Foreign Affairs under Santa-Maria in 1881, he -consolidated the victories of Chili in the war of the Pacific. The -military campaign was over, and Peru was vanquished, but was -defending her territorial integrity against the conquering ambition -of Arauco. What the armies had not been able to do diplomacy hoped -to effect. The intervention of the United States would have -proposed, as the solution of the war, peace without conquest; this -was the policy of Mr. Blaine, who dreamed of an America at lasting -peace under the golden reign of arbitration. A North American -minister, Mr. Trescott, brought the proposals of his government to -Chili. Garcia-Calderon, President of Peru, the champion of -territorial integrity and national union, stimulated the intervention -of the United States, but the mediators were inclined to treat the -victors with docility. President Garfield died, and the North -American policy changed. The Peruvian President was a prisoner of -Chili; from Rancagua to Quillota, from Santiago to Valparaiso, he was -the irreducible symbol of vanquished Peru. The United States -abandoned him; their policy finally became indecisive, turbid, -Machiavellic. Lima and Callao were occupied until 1883, when -Balmaceda succeeded in arranging the terms of peace, and the treaty -was signed which delivered over to Chili the riches of Southern Peru. - -[Illustration: JOSE MANUEL BALMACEDA. President of Chile -(1886-1891). To face p. 172.] - -The Imperialist minister had conquered; he aspired to the presidency -of his country. Santa-Maria put him forward, and public opinion -accepted him, proud of his diplomatic triumphs. An age of plenty -commenced; the ancient Chilian austerity was at an end. Balmaceda -governed with his energies increased a hundred-fold by the gold of -Peru, the moral power of victory, his ambitions as a statesman, and -the vocation for empire which a victorious war develops in the heart -of an energetic people. - -{173} - -Materially, he transformed Chili; morally, he presided over her -dissolution, or, at least, her decadence. Neither this degeneration -nor this progress was the exclusive work of the autocratic President. -Wealth enervates a sober people; it permits the erection of -monuments, but it weakens men's characters. Honest and far-sighted, -Balmaceda employed the millions he had drawn from the war in material -enterprises; he built schools throughout the country, special -institutes, mining and agricultural colleges, professional colleges; -he began the construction of new railways, of a breakwater at -Talcahuano, of palaces for the administrative services; he fortified -several ports, bought new ironclads, encouraged immigration, founded -military schools, and re-equipped the army. He suppressed -contributions, assured the service of the foreign debt, amortised -paper money, and demanded guarantees of the banks. When in Chili you -inquire as to the origin of a public works, a school, or a prison, -you will hear of Balmaceda. In finance, in education, and in -colonisation he effected a fundamental renaissance; he was the -master-builder among Presidents. - -Balmaceda was raised to the presidency by three parties: the -liberals, the radicals, and the nationals; that is to say, by three -aspects of one central idea, varying from an attenuated liberalism -which verged on conservatism in its ideas (nationalism) to a violent -liberalism, verging on demagogy (radicalism). The Balmacedist -victory stifled all attempts at clerical reaction; Balmaceda was a -reformer. His ambition could not be satisfied by material progress -and practical advance. As ideologist, he applied abstract ideas to -politics. He wished to unite all the liberals in one preponderant -party, to ensure a still greater independence to the public powers, -judicial and municipal, and to despoil the executive of its -traditional attributes; to found an educated, liberal, {174} -military, and virile democracy as a check against the oligarchy, in -which democracy dreamers of every school could find their Utopia. - -Between his character and his doctrines there was a grave -discrepancy. An autocrat by vocation and by temperament, because a -patrician, he nevertheless weakened the executive by the Municipal -Law, which established autonomous municipalities, and by the law of -incompatibilities, which conceded to Congress a complete independence -of the other powers. "The mandate of the deputy" declares this law -"is incompatible with the exercise of any paid public function." At -this hour of party confusion Balmaceda despoiled the executive of -efficacious agents in Parliament. He was thus, by a reform which, -ideally speaking, was perfect, preparing the way for serious future -conflicts. - -The liberal President condemned the Constitution of 1833, the basis -of Chilian order; he believed that the new period demanded a new -statute. "Neither the desires of the country nor those of the -parties or groups now active," he wrote, "can adapt themselves to the -system of centralisation and authority consecrated by the -Constitution of 1833."[1] He criticised "the attributions which -devolve upon the chief of the Executive Power, the weakening of -initiative and of the local charters by excess of vigour in the -central power; the part played by the Executive in the formation of -the judicial power, its influence upon the elections, the functioning -of the legislative power, the centralisation of the administration, -and the works which foster material progress." - -But by abandoning, by a sort of heroic suicide, the forces conferred -upon him by a traditional statute, Balmaceda paved the way for an -omnipotent Congress. _Pelucon_ by heredity, a cultured despot, he -{175} soon disregarded the power which he himself had raised above -the decadent presidency. The contradiction between his life and his -doctrines, his heredity and his ideals, gives his noble and patrician -figure the majesty of a character of Æschylus, ennobled at once and -annihilated by destiny. Balmaceda weakened the executive and put -forward official candidates; established the preponderance of -Congress and wished to have independent ministers; destroyed the -Constitution of 1833 and ruled as an autocrat. Renan compared -himself to the scholastic _hircocerf_, which bears within itself two -hostile natures; this was also the fate of Balmaceda. - -His political ideal was that of Benjamin Constant; of Lamartine, of -Laboulaye. He accepted neither the despotism of the President nor -the tyranny of Congress. - -Could the perfect equilibrium of the public powers be realised in -Chili, or was it merely the noble dream of an ideologist? Very soon -the omnipotence of a centralised government was replaced by the -dictatorship of anarchical Parliaments. The parties imposed -ministers upon Balmaceda, and presented him with lists of candidates, -among whom the President, powerless to refuse, was to choose his -counsellors. - -It was a radical transformation, for from the time of Portales the -government had intervened in elections, had insisted upon presidents -and deputies. Balmaceda disregarded his own work, rebelled against -Congress, governed without a budget, defended the rights of the power -which he had destroyed by short-sighted legislation, and tried to -enforce his wishes as to the Presidency, in the traditional manner, -and Congress refused to accept his candidate. It has been truly said -that the government of Balmaceda was the crisis of electoral -intervention.[2] Parliament refused to pass the President's law of -contributions, {176} overturned his ministries, and protested against -the designation of an official candidate; as in the time of the -French Revolution, a revolutionary committee was formed in the heart -of the Chamber. The two dictatorships clashed. The revolution broke -forth in 1891; the fleet revolted; civil war divided families; -Congress fought for the Constitution, the Government for the -autocracy. From La Moneda Balmaceda directed a terrible war against -the combined forces of the fleet, the banks, and the Parliament. The -factions fought with lamentable ardour; it was a war of hatreds and -reprisals, bitter as a racial conflict. Two battles, Concon and La -Placilla, destroyed the power of the President. - -The revolutionaries got the upper hand, invaded Valparaiso and -Santiago, and the Araucanian savages burned the dwellings of the -President's friends, and swept, brutal and drunken, through the -silent cities. Balmaceda took refuge in the Argentine Legation, and -his supporters hid, while a horde of vandals proceeded to reduce the -capital to ruins. The defeated President took on a stoic grandeur; -like a hero of Plutarch, he transformed his fall into an apotheosis; -he purified the local tragedy by catastrophe. Serene as a figure of -antiquity, he committed suicide, after drafting a noble political -testament. "Among those who are to-day my most violent persecutors," -he wrote, "are the politicians of various parties whom I have heaped -with honours, whom I have exalted and served with enthusiasm. I am -in nowise surprised, neither by this inconsequence, nor by the -inconstancy of mankind.... All the founders of South American -independence have died in dungeons, in prison cells, or have been -assassinated, or have perished in proscription and exile. Such has -been civil war in the ancient as in the modern democracies. It is -only when one has witnessed the fury to which the victors in a civil -{177} war abandon themselves that one comes to understand why, of -old, the vanquished politician, even though he were the most unworthy -servant of the State, made an end by falling upon his own sword." - -After these considerations of political philosophy, the firm -protestation of the hidalgo. He cannot submit to "the criterion of -judges whom he dismissed from their posts on account of their -revolutionary ideas." Two ways remained open to him: flight or -death, and he preferred the second, for it might lessen the -persecution and the woes to be endured by his friends. "I might -still escape," he says in his testament, "by leaving Chili, but this -expedient would not be consistent with my antecedents, nor my pride -as a Chilian and a gentleman. I am inevitably delivered over to the -judgment or the pity of my enemies, since the Constitution and the -laws have no longer any virtue. But you know, gentlemen (he is -addressing Claudio Vicuña and Julio Banados-Espinosa) that I am -incapable of imploring favour, or even benevolence, of men whom I -despise for their ambition and their lack of citizenship." He felt -that a great crisis, or a drama, requires a protagonist or a victim, -and he accepted his destiny to the death. Above the half-breed -_caudillos_, above the obscure crowd who swarm in palaces and -parliaments, hungering for power and display, rises this patrician -figure, towering and solitary. - -In his political testament he condemns the existing system: "As long -as parliamentary government, as men have wished to practise it, and -as the triumphant revolution will uphold it, shall continue in Chili, -there will be no electoral liberty, no serious and permanent -organisation within the parties, nor peace between the groups in -Congress." His bitter prophecy is accomplished: an excessive and -sterile parliamentarism triumphed with the revolutionaries. From -Portales to Balmaceda the President was the supreme {178} authority; -after Balmaceda Congress governed, and the President, the slave of -the ruling groups, could neither dissolve Parliament nor appeal to a -popular referendum. The liberty of the vote has been won, but it -ratifies the tyranny of the Assemblies. The parties are fractional; -authority, the basis of Chilian greatness, has declined. A President -without initiative, an incoherent ministry, a Parliament divided and -uncertain: there is the political outlook. "The Government of -Congress is the Government of the parties, and these political -entities exist in Chili only in the shape of antipathies or -memories."[3] - -The Balmacedist party itself did not escape the universal -dissolution. It still supports the presidential system, but it does -so without the rigidity of its founder; it is liberal, democratic, -and parliamentary; its strength lies in the assemblies. "In -liberalism," Don Julio Zegers can write,[4] "the Balmacedists are -those who prefer Unitarian pacts to doctrines." - -In the political world the tradition of the _pelucones_, of a strong -tutelary authority, is dying; in the social world the oligarchy is -losing its ancient privileges before the progress of the middle -classes. Balmaceda, the founder of schools and colleges, the -champion of all liberties, realised this national transformation. -Chili was the scene, after the political revolution of 1891, of a -social revolution, a warfare of castes, a bloody conflict between the -feudal overlords and a Third Estate formed in the schools, liberal -and industrial. Two parties, radicals and democrats, are organising -themselves for the battles of the future. "The radical party," -writes an observer, "is composed of the fervent enemies of the clergy -and a {179} great part of the youth of the middle class, which -combines with its religious hatreds a certain degree of dislike of -the wealthy and respected classes."[5] Señor Edwards believes that -this socialistic tendency, which is predominant among the radicals, -"constitutes a serious danger for the future." The democratic party, -like the English labour party, and the united socialists of France, -is a working man's party. - -The revolution of 1891 was directed by the bankers. After the war of -the Pacific the Chilian oligarchy was dissolved; it formed itself -into a plutocracy, without austere traditions, which is predominant -in the Parliaments and is ambitious to seize the reins of government. -Balmaceda would never give way before the "new men"; as an aristocrat -he was the enemy of the merchants. Portales founded a society of -patricians, but the liberal president could not organise the -democracy he dreamed of. The financiers united with the great -families before the threat of formidable strikes, and the -intellectual elevation of the middle class, bankers and landowners -and property owners grouped themselves in a more accessible -oligarchy, much after the pattern of the oligarchy of the United -States. Balmaceda was the last representative of the great Chilian -tradition, of the tutelary oligarchy which led and educated the -people and distrusted the plutocracy. - - -[1] See J. Bañados Espinosa, _Balmaceda, su gobierno y la revolucion -de 1891_, vol. i. pp. 455 _et seq_. - -[2] Said by Don Juan Enrique Tocornal, a Chilian politician. - -[3] Alberto Edwards, _Bosquejo historico de los partidos politicos -chilenos_, Santiago, 1903, p. 116. - -[4] Cited by Vicuña-Subercasseaux in his study of Balmaceda. See -_Gobernantes y Literatos_, Santiago, 1907, p. 64. - -[5] Edwards, as cited. - - - - -{180} - -CHAPTER III - -BRAZIL: THE EMPIRE--THE REPUBLIC - -The influence of the Imperial _régime_--A transatlantic -Marcus-Aurelius, Dom Pedro II.--The Federal Republic. - - -While the republics of America have passed, without prudent -transition, from colonial dependence to self-government, Brazil, by -means of paternal autocracies, was prepared for the ultimate -realisation of its republican dreams. There liberty was not the -immediate gift of unrealisable constitutions, but the logical end of -a painful conquest. Brazil was successively a tributary colony, an -independent monarchy, an absolutist empire, and a federal and -democratic republic. One principle, that of authority, was dominant -throughout this process of evolution. A rigid despotism gradually -ceded secular prerogatives before the attacks of an ardent -liberalism; progress was definite and order lasting, and revolution -has been powerless to shake the principle of monarchical continuity. - -Portugal has not yet been invaded by the French armies. The royal -family, carrying the monarchical _penates_, have fled toward their -distant colony, the idyllic and tropical Brazil. We are in 1807: -Maria, Queen of Portugal, is insane; João de Braganza, the regent, -placid and undecided, hopes for a _bourgeois_ ostracism, without -political convulsions. - -In Brazil, the monarch, guided by conservative spirits, transforms -the economic system and decrees {181} the freedom of the ports, and -the metropolitan monopoly is thereby abolished. England, watching -over the exodus of the king, demands protection for her products. -The factories which a policy of lamentable rivalities had closed are -reopened. As early as 1808 the king wishes to found an empire in -this colony, devoid as it is of political personality; in 1815 he -raises it to the category of kingdom, thus laying the foundations of -nationality. Independence, after this, will only be the natural -segregation of an organism already formed. - -The government of the Portuguese king develops all the national -forces which were embryonic in the colony--art, law, literature. He -founds the Bank of Brazil, establishes a military academy, a national -library, and a botanic garden; he fosters agriculture and -immigration. His new domain seems to have transformed the mediocre -monarch. Under the influence of his queen, Charlotte, eager for -power and display, he longs to extend his dominion over Uruguay and -Paraguay, perhaps even to reconstitute, to his own profit, the -vice-kingdom of La Plata. He seizes upon French Guiana, which -remains in the power of Brazil until 1817. - -But such vast plans as these do not strengthen the hands of the -monarch. The Court, silent and extravagant, does not please the -Brazilians, and the King favours the Portuguese merchants by an -extreme prodigality. He creates a new nobility, that of the "sons of -the King," and its influence in the palace and its insolent display -soon weary the colonists. The old _régime_ is still extant; a -parasitical bureaucracy, recruited among the Portuguese, weighs -heavily on the destinies of Brazil. - -A revolution in Portugal in 1820 invites the King to return to Europe -to accept the Constitution put forward by the revolutionary _junta_ -of Lisbon. The monarch leaves his son, Dom Pedro de Alcantara, {182} -in Brazil, and quits the country. It is said that on bidding Dom -Pedro farewell he cried: "Before long Brazil will separate from -Portugal; if it is so, crown yourself before some adventurer gets -hold of the sceptre." - -The Lisbon Parliament wished to destroy the reforms of João VI. in -Brazil, and to transform a monarchical nation into a feudal colony, -but the Brazilian deputies then in Portugal protested and emigrated -to England. A revolution at Pernambuco in 1817 had raised the -standard of nationalism. The manifesto or _Preciso_ of the -revolutionaries formulated the complaints of the colony. "There is -no longer any distinction," said the victorious patriots, "between -Brazilians and Europeans; all consider themselves brothers; as -descendants of the same origin, as inhabitants of the same country, -as believers of the same religion." - -Journalism, in its infancy, was propagating constitutional ideas both -in the north and in the south. Jacobin declamation and romantic -ideology created a powerful movement in the taciturn colony. -Governmental _juntas_ were appointed in the provinces. Portuguese -and Brazilians struggled for political and social domination, but a -Lusitanian army, in spite of popular protest, imposed the oath of -fidelity to the Constitution which had been promulgated for the -metropolis by the distant Cortes. - -The prince prevented a federal disaggregation and founded the unity -of Brazil. He united the representatives of the rebellious -provinces, convoked, in 1822, a Constituent Assembly, visited the -country districts, and became the "perpetual defender of Brazil." -Like the Gothic kings at the time of the Moorish invasion, or the -French princes who were faced with feudal anarchy, he founded a -national dynasty, and bound the unity and independence of Brazil with -the destinies of the monarchy. Dom {183} João VI. had raised Brazil -to the rank of a kingdom; Pedro I. rendered it independent of -Portugal. "Independence or death!" he cried, in his triumphant -Odyssey across the rebellious provinces. At Ipiranga floated the new -flag, gold and green, of the new-born Empire. Pedro I. was crowned -Constitutional Emperor in December, 1822. - -José Bonifacio Andrade e Silva, naturalist, philosopher, and soldier, -an encyclopædist according to the French tradition, was the minister -of this national transformation; he condemned the revolution, having -previously supported natural rights and excessive liberties. He -suppressed the journals, and the monarch dissolved the Constituent -Assembly, whose violence and lyrical propensities were not a help to -the political action of a conservative minister. - -Extreme groups were formed which the Emperor endeavoured to -conciliate: reactionaries who wanted an absolute government, -idealists who wished for a republic, moderates, and conciliatory -monarchists who sought a gradual progress under a stable government. -Weary of revolutions the Emperor inaugurated a despotic _régime_; he -withdrew from the Assembly, exiled the rebels, among others Andrade, -now radical but formerly a reactionary, and always greedy for power. -He surrounded himself with Portuguese troops, and the new nobility, -the _filhos do reinho_, and the press attacked him in the name of -nationalism. It demanded the persecution of favourites, as in the -Spanish colonies the expulsion of the old ruling classes was decreed. - -The Emperor once again united the moderate parties, and demanded a -Constitution, to which the country swore allegiance in 1824; it was a -constitutional charter, an imitation of the liberal European -charters. In 1826 he convoked a new National Assembly. Revolutions -were still disturbing the country; some provinces wished to secede -{184} from the new kingdom; Pernambuco was always the centre of -liberalism. An old patriot, Paez de Andrade, hoped to unite the -Northern States of Brazil in the "Confederation of the Equator." The -monarch sent troops to the north to intimidate the country, and the -Lower Chamber condemned this act of despotism; a radical priest, -Diego Antonio Feijó, led the radical opposition. He was a -revolutionary in Parliament, demanding a responsible government, and -condemning the ministers who forced peace upon the provinces by means -of foreign legions, German and Irish mercenaries. - -The Chambers were invaded by republicans and federals, and Pedro I. -by no means abandoned his reactionary ministers. These latter -succeeded one another in a series of perpetual crises. The external -warfare complicated the political situation; Uruguay had revolted, -counting on the aid of Argentine regiments. The Brazilians were -defeated, and recognised the independence of Uruguay by the treaty of -1828. - -King João died in 1826, and the Emperor remained undecided between -the traditional kingdom and the new Empire. He formed a liberal -Cabinet to satisfy radicals and federalists, who had triumphed at the -elections of 1830. A useless transaction: ministries fell, and the -financial muddle increased. The people of Rio de Janeiro revolted, -and the Emperor abdicated. José Bonifacio, creator of the political -_régime_, was to be the tutor of the infant prince. - -The Regency was a moderate government which steered clear of -reactionaries and exaltés both, of absolutism and republicanism. -Father Feijó, minister of the Regency, became, like many radicals, a -conservative; he organised the National Guard, suppressed military -meetings and enforced peace in the interior. Subversive movements -continued, and the invulnerable minister repressed them. The -administration {185} of the country progressed, schools were founded, -the Assembly issued wise codes of laws. The Regent, Andrade, -imprisoned and deposed, Diego Feijó was elected tutor of the prince -in 1835; the old radical politician was now dictator. He represented -the moderates as against the revolutionists; in extreme cases he -abandoned liberalism for autocracy. As early as 1836 his political -autocracy began to decline and the liberal campaign gathered force. -Feijó passed over the regency to his friend, Aranjo Lima, and left -the Government. This representative of authority in a country which -was a prey to anarchy was autocratic by virtue of his patriotism; -like all American dictators he stifled revolution in its blood. - -The liberals of yesterday are often the moderates or conservatives of -to-day in monarchical Brazil. Andrade, Feijó, and Pereira de -Vasconcellos are examples of this inevitable transformation. Liberty -was the creed of these politicians when they were oppressed by -colonial absolutism, by the servitude anterior to the monarchy and -the Empire; they realised their creed, and the reign of liberal -principles resulted in disorder. The excess of authority or the -excess of anarchy stood in the way of peace and progress. The -political leaders of Brazil swayed from side to side; they were -liberals against despotism and autocrats against demagogy. - -In 1840 the infant prince attained his majority; the liberals, -powerful in Parliament, demanded that the Regency should be -terminated. The country longed for internal peace, but discord -between the parties continued. Numerous revolutions disturbed the -country. Minas and Pernambuco, where sedition had passed into a -chronic condition, rose in 1842 and 1848 respectively. - -Pedro II. governed with the liberals, but the dangers of excessive -liberalism, of premature democracy, {186} forced him toward -autocracy. He was a learned and sceptical Marcus Aurelius, a stoic -who had read Voltaire. "A simple and modest democrat, losing nothing -of his personal distinction," wrote the historian Ribeiro, "generous -and disinterested, an example of all the domestic virtues, he courted -the respectful sympathy of the crowd rather than popularity."[1] He -was the first republican of Brazil; he presided over a nation in -process of transformation. Before the clash of races, the -revolutionary unrest, and Utopian radicalism his Government -maintained the traditions, reacted against violent reforms, and -favoured the gradual formation of a new world. - -In 1841 he confided the ministry to the Marquis de Paranagua, who -exiled the revolutionaries, reinforced the political unity of the -country, and re-established the Council of State. New ministries -continued the conservative reaction. Without freeing the slaves, -Brazil prohibited the traffic in this black merchandise, at the -suggestion of England. The Empire, faithful to its traditions, -intervened in the affairs of La Plata. - -The Viscount de Itaborahy, once the external conflict was at an end, -presided over an administrative ministry. Immigrants were attracted, -and founded German colonies in the south; the navigation of the -interior was protected, and the higher regions of the Sertaõ were -conquered. A new commercial code, an administrative organisation, -agrarian laws, and the reform of the treasury: such were the various -forms of the Imperial activity. Itaborahy was followed by an -authoritative minister, the Marquis de Parana, a political figure of -lasting national significance. - -A great administrator, he organised public education, and extended -the railways and the navigation {187} of the rivers of the interior. -He was assisted in his labours by distinguished statesmen: a jurist, -Nabuco de Araujo, and a diplomatist, Baron de Rio Branco. His -activities were not merely administrative, but political and social -as well. He wished to reconcile the parties; he absorbed the liberal -element in the conservative group, and by this fusion of the old -parties prepared the way for the appearance of new groups, dominated -by a definite intention of liberation or conservation. The -reactionary cabinets and the philosopher-Emperor had founded order in -the place of revolutionary dispersion. But this order, the victory -of narrow traditionalism, could not be lasting. Multiple racial -elements--Portuguese, Indian, and African--were seething in the new -society; democracy would prove to be the protest of redeemed slaves -against a powerful oligarchy. The Marquis de Parana, who, having -attracted the liberals, transformed his own conservative group, and -consolidated order by reuniting the factions, understood that -reaction could not be permanent in an incoherent democracy. He was -the last of the conservatives and the first of the liberals. - -The reactionary cabinets of Caxias, Olinda, and Ferraz followed his, -and other parties were formed: authoritative conservatives, -uncompromising liberals, and a party of conciliation. The elections -of 1860 were a democratic triumph. Great orators came to the fore -with a truly tropical eloquence; these "new men," like Antonio -Leocadio Guzman in Venezuela, stirred the passions of the people. To -oppose their liberal programme conservatives and moderate liberals -united in Congress. The reactionaries governed from 1848 to 1862; -now the radicals sought for power. The last conservative cabinets -fell to pieces before the opposition of Parliament and the protests -of the crowd. Despotic monarchy was condemned; constitutional -monarchy had many {188} supporters; new elections, in 1863, increased -the strength of the liberals and democrats. The Paraguayan war -against the dictatorship of Lopez gave unusual prominence to the -external life of the country, and political agitation died down. - -Pedro II., representing the conservative interests of historical and -national continuity, was opposed to an unruly liberalism. After one -liberal ministry he chose two moderate cabinets, under Olinda and -Vasconcellos, which were inclined to conservatism, and finally -Itaborahy dissolved the Lower Chamber. The Emperor had gone back ten -years; the ministry that in 1852 had marked the triumph of the -conservatives was now to rule in the face of a rising tide of -democracy. A constitutional monarch by law, he was none the less an -autocrat, for he forced his ministries upon a hostile Chamber, and -gave politics a direction contrary to the will of the people, and -those their suffrage had newly elected. - -The liberals rose against the reactionary Emperor and demanded reform -or revolution. A transformation of the electoral system, of the -Draconian code of justice, and of the army, which was really a -Prætorian legion supporting an absolute power, and, in the social -department, the liberation of the slaves: such was the programme of -1869. A dissident group of conservatives united with the liberals, -and a patrician, Nabuco de Araujo, signed the manifesto of the -reformers. - -It was the crisis of the monarchy. Its historical function was -nearly at an end; it had organised peace, created unity and -nationality, and laid the orderly foundations of the new Brazilian -race. Autocracy, necessary in the dawn of the century, was now -contrary to democratic development; after 1870 the liberals openly -aspired to found a republic. - -The ministry of Viscount Rio Branco, from 1871 to 1876, maintained -the _status quo_. A great administrator, {189} like the Marquis de -Parana, he effected a reform in public education by founding special -schools; he took a census of the country, and extended the network of -railways. Immigration increased under his government and exchange -was bettered. A great social reform changed the face of the Empire; -in 1871 slavery was abolished. The separated classes were about to -mingle with the nation; the result was the rise of a mestizo -democracy. Slavery abolished, castes confounded, liberals -discontented, the reactionaries growing old--on the doubtful horizon -one supreme hope was visible: the republic. It was now the -collective ideal, as the Empire had been in the last days of the -colonial period. It was proclaimed, without violence, in 1889. - -The Emperor, who abdicated, a symbol of the majestic past, had -prepared the advent of the Republic that ostracised him. His ideas -were liberal; he was the protector of the sciences; a smiling -philosopher; and in fostering the intellectual transformation of -Brazil he exposed his own autocracy to the criticism of the liberals. -By abolishing slavery he weakened the power of the reigning -oligarchy; by destroying privileges and uniting hostile classes he -created a democracy. - -The Empire, in America, represents tutelary authority. Between the -feudal colony and the Republic--two extreme points of political -development--arose the Brazilian monarchy, as a moderative power. It -brought a necessary equilibrium, and, with that, progress. First of -all it established autonomy; then a national order, a national -dynasty; it preserved traditions, and organised the forces of -society. Beside it arose a conservative oligarchy, bound to the -soil; castes and permanent interests were created. The territorial -overlords upheld the stability of the Empire, and an admirable -political system imposed peace upon a heterogeneous people, {190} -shaken by the clash of races and the opposition of seaboard and -province. Between 1848 and 1862 the monarchy created the Brazilian -nation. - -In the South American republics anarchy destroys national unity and -prevents the crystallisation of the social classes. In Brazil there -were frequent revolutions under the Regency; military leaders were -eager for power, but there was a permanent and inviolable bulwark -against disorder. The Emperor was the _caudillo_ of _caudillos_, the -leader of leaders; the Constitution partially justified his -despotism. Without violating it, he imposed, by means of -conservative ministries, lasting peace and gradual reforms. Against -this inflexible Cæsar struggled a seething democracy; it snatched -certain privileges and won limited liberties, and eventually saw the -birth of the Republic, the appointed term of political and social -evolution. The rigour of the principle of authority has spared -Brazil the perpetual revolutionary crises endured by other American -nations. - - -[1] Work already cited, p. 516. - - - - -{191} - -CHAPTER IV - -PARAGUAY: PERPETUAL DICTATORSHIP - -Dr. Francia--The opinion of Carlyle--The two Lopez--Tyranny and the -military spirit in Paraguay. - - -Paraguay, a child of the old _régime_, has preserved seclusion and -absolutism. In other republics independence was a violent -condemnation of the colonial methods. Freed from Spanish tutelage, -the Paraguayan democracy none the less maintained its retired life -under paternal monarchs. Its evolution is original; showing neither -continual anarchy, as in the tropics, nor the perpetual quarrels of -_caudillos_, disputing territory and wealth. Dictators and tyrants -imposed their inviolable will on the inland nation. Autocracy -levelled classes and races, and prepared the way for the appearance, -in isolated Paraguay, of a new caste, formed of the fusion of Guarani -Indians and Spaniards. The dictators of Paraguay professed a rigid -Americanism; they expelled strangers, and with arrogant patriotism -wished the republic to be self-sufficing. Their ideal was -essentially Spanish; a democracy governed by Cæsar. - -Dr. Francia was the first dictator in the Republic founded by the -Jesuits. A gloomy personality, of an intense inner life, like -Garcia-Moreno, he seemed one of Cromwell's Puritans. Taciturn and -solitary, truthful and punctual, methodical, like the Anglo-Saxons, -and ambitious, but without passion or exaltation, he admired -Bonaparte, and like him became consul and emperor. - -{192} - -He was born in 1758. He was the son of a Portuguese or Brazilian, -Garcia Rodriguez Francia. He studied theology in the colonial -university of silent, austere Cordoba. When General Belgrano -fomented the rebellion of the Paraguayans against the Spanish rule, -and a governmental _junta_ was installed, Caspar Rodriguez Francia -was a member of the latter. The little republic elected triumvirs -and consuls in the Roman manner. A Congress assembled in the same -year decreed the independence of Paraguay. The country freed itself -not only from Spain but also from Buenos-Ayres. No longer -recognising the limits of the ancient vice-kingdom, the _junta_ -refused to treat with Belgrano unless he recognised the autonomy of -Paraguay. - -The Congress of 1813, at which a thousand deputies were present, -continued to parody Rome; it appointed Francia and Fulgencio Yegros -consuls, and promulgated a political system. Cæsar and Pompey became -the names of the new magistrates, who were alternately in power. The -liberty of Paraguay was consolidated, and the consuls refused to send -delegates to the Congress of La Plata, which the haughty metropolis -convoked at Buenos-Ayres. These magistrates condemned Argentines and -Spaniards to civil death, and forbade them to marry Paraguayan women -of white race. In a third Congress (1814) Francia and Yegros -demanded a temporary dictatorship. - -Yegros was ignorant and popular. Francia, energetic, learned, and a -born dissembler, was obedient to classic memories and to the -Napoleonic tradition; he aspired to absolute power. He was appointed -dictator for three years, and soon obtained supreme power. He -improvised his policy upon reading the ancient history of Rollin; the -republicans of Rome served him as constant models, whose energy and -austerity he imitated. - -{193} - -Educated for the priesthood, he became an advocate. He knew the law -and theology like a lettered colonial, subtle and dogmatic. Before -becoming consul he had filled various municipal offices; first he was -secretary to the municipality, then mayor. He studied local needs, -and prepared to govern as a nationalist. - -He made use of religion, as did Garcia-Moreno and Portales, in order -to render his political actions more efficacious. He was tolerant in -respect of beliefs, but condemned atheism; he felt that the Church -was the only moral force in a disturbed democracy. - -He would accept no international religion; he wanted a Paraguayan, -American cult, in which also he resembled Guzman-Blanco. He declared -himself head of the national Church, and disregarded the authority of -the Holy See; he suppressed the seminary and the monastic orders of -the Franciscans, the Dominicans, and the Sisters of Mercy, and -proceeded to appoint vicars and curates himself. The Inquisition was -abolished, processions were forbidden, and the number of holidays was -reduced to a minimum. Francia ordered the payment of tithes, -protected religion, and extended the rights conferred by patronage on -the Spanish kings; he sold the goods of the Church to build schools -and barracks. In short, he aspired to govern a Christian republic -freed from clericalism. - -Religion consecrated his authority; the Paraguayan Church taught that -all power, even tyranny, was in its essence divine. When moral -activity did not suffice, Francia, like Rosas, appealed to terror. -Conspiracies against his tyranny were numerous; the Dictator shot the -rebels. His punishments revealed an Oriental cruelty. In 1821 he -executed the representatives of the Paraguayan nobility. He levelled -his subjects, and governed without ministers, {194} surrounded only -by informers and prætorian guards. In 1860 a Congress conferred -perpetual dictatorship upon him, and he dissolved the Congress. He -suppressed the _cabildos_, or municipalities, and replaced them by -_juntas_ selected by himself; he annihilated all hierarchy and all -privilege, and assassinated Yegros, his companion in the Consulate. -His enemies he imprisoned, exiled, or killed. His ambition was to -cut off every head that raised itself above the level of the uniform, -anonymous, and laborious crowd. - -He established internal order under his autocracy. "Quarrels," he -said, "paralyse industry, and injure the prosperity of the nation." - -He created a Church and a Fatherland. To ensure his work, he -expelled the Spaniards and isolated his country. He protected all -foreigners who did not come from Spain, closed the ports to trade, -and barred the rivers to free navigation. - -His efforts were contradictory. He hated Spain; he wished to abolish -the privileges of the nobility and clergy, and he restored the -colonial system; he even aggravated it, giving it an unheard-of -severity. He restored absolutism, commercial monopoly, and the -communism of the Jesuits; there were estancias known as "the -Country's," whose products satisfied the requirements of the budget. -He unwillingly conceded licences to trade or navigate on the rivers; -he opened great magazines, which recalled the colonial fairs, for the -sale of merchandise. Paraguay existed in a condition of prodigious -isolation; commercial transactions declined, and money went out of -circulation. - -During this time the population increased. The Dictator favoured -Creoles, stimulated the crossing of Indian and foreign blood by -severe measures, and carefully chose foreigners for the improvement -of the Paraguayan population by means of forced unions; {195} in this -way he continued the work of the Jesuits. A homogeneous democracy, a -national conscience, was gradually formed. - -Like all the great American dictators, he stimulated material -progress, and rebuilt Assomption, the capital city. He constructed -public works, and forts to stop the encroachments of Indians, -protected agriculture, and created industries. His ideal was full -autonomy in an isolation possibly barbarous. By successive -regulations he forced proprietors to sow their lands, to extend the -cultivated area; like the Peruvian Incas, he would have none idle in -his kingdom; he distributed tasks and enforced their execution. - -He ruled from 1811 to 1840, a long thirty years, a period attained by -no other American dictator but Rosas. His work was rude and -imposing; he created a race, and freed his threatened country in -every sense, political, economic, and religious. A priest said once -in an ardent panegyric: "The Lord, having cast a pitying glance upon -our country, sent us Dr. Francia to save it." The tyrant thus became -a redeemer, and is not without his strange legend. At seventy years -of age he was regarded as a remote and divine personage. From a -secret palace he governed a disciplined people. He had militarised -the country and exalted patriotism, the strong national feeling of -small nations, from Uruguay and Paraguay in America and Servia, to -Bulgaria and Montenegro in Europe. - -His long tyranny in no way debased the race. When he died Francia -was mourned by his people, a people about to reveal in warfare a -Spartan tenacity, a tranquil heroism. Paraguay was unconquerable; it -was dispeopled, the masculine population disappeared, but the -Republic remained erect and aggressive. Francia had formed a proud -and warlike race. He was the most extraordinary man the world had -seen {196} for a hundred years, said Carlyle in one of his Essays--a -Dominican ripe for canonisation, an excellent superior of Jesuits, a -rude and atrabilious Grand Inquisitor. The Scottish historian -praises the grim silences of Francia--"the grim -unspeakabilities"--that mute solitude in which remarkable men commune -with the mystery of things. - -After thirty years of uniform dictatorship the Guaranian people might -have revolted against autocracy. But here, contrary to that which -passed in other republics, the monarchy was not the term of -absolutism. Francia was replaced by new tyrants, the two Lopez, and -Paraguay accepted perpetual dictatorship. - -A "ricorso" exhibited the old round of evolution: the triumvirate, -then the consulate, then dictatorship. - -The last of the Lopez was better educated and more moderate than the -previous tyrants; he militarised the country, created an army of -thirty thousand men, and developed the fleet. Brazil and the -Argentine had difficulties with Paraguay; these two countries were -quarrelling for supremacy in La Plata. Paraguay and Uruguay, States -rebellious to every yoke, provoked conflicts between these ambitious -powers. Brazil demanded reparation for the attacks directed by -Uruguay against Brazilians, and Lopez intervened as meditator in this -conflict. He assisted Uruguay to maintain "the equilibrium of La -Plata." The Empire refused his good offices, and the haughty tyrant -declared war. He asked General Mitre, President of the Argentine -Republic, permission to send his troops across the territory of -Corrientes. The President refused permission, and protested against -the accumulation of Paraguayan troops on the frontier. The -belligerents were now three. Paraguay attacked two powerful States, -the Argentine and Brazil. The war lasted five years (1865-70). - -{197} - -The war had all the grandeur of an ancient epic. The heroism of -Paraguay overcame numbers, destiny, and death; she defeated the -allies, and, hemmed in by superior forces, still held out under the -leadership of Lopez, now transformed into a stern apostle of -nationalism. He performed prodigies; he attacked without reserves, -and, in a bellicose delirium, shot down those who criticised his -actions, and continued the war on a territory dispeopled and steeped -in blood. The allies seized Assomption, and Lopez himself fell in -battle: the tragic personification of an irreducible people. The -first of the Lopez had written to Rosas in 1845, "Paraguay cannot be -conquered." The war confirmed this prophecy. In 1870 the Brazilian -and Argentine victors found only a decimated country; the cities were -deserted, and foreigners had taken possession of the soil; the solemn -silence which Francia had dreamed of for his country reigned -throughout. The women were accomplishing their funeral rites above -unnumbered and innumerable tombs; they dug trenches, and, like -Antigone in the Æschylean tragedy, carried in the folds of their -mantles the maternal soil that was to cover the dead. - -After this war nothing could be more monotonous than Paraguayan life; -military presidents and civil presidents have succeeded one another -with intervals of anarchy. The spirit of dictatorship is not dead. -The intellectuals--Dominguez, Gondra, Baez--deny Lopez and Francia; -but new tyrants reign over the midland Republic. - -The principle of authority, exacerbated and tenacious, has created -modern Paraguay. This nation confirms a law of American history. -Dictatorship is the proper government to create internal order, to -develop wealth, and to unite inimical castes. - - - - -{199} - -BOOK IV - -FORMS OF POLITICAL ANARCHY - -Revolution is general in Latin America. There the most civilised -nations have been rent by civil wars. But there are a few republics -in which these conflicts have been perpetual: such is the case in -Central America and the Antilles. It seems as though the tropical -climate must favour these disturbances. Assassinations of -presidents, battles in the cities, collisions between factions and -castes, inflammatory and deceptive rhetoric, all lead one to suppose -that these equatorial regions are inimical to peace and organisation. - -There are two South American peoples in which Jacobinism has become a -national malady, in which men of every creed are involved: they are -Colombia and Ecuador. Their tragic history shows us a curious form -of Ibero-American anarchy: namely, religious anarchy. - - - - -{201} - -CHAPTER I - -COLOMBIA - -Conservatives and radicals--General Mosquera: his influence--A -statesman: Rafael Nuñez, his doctrines political. - - -A certain writer of New Granada, Rafael Nuñez, a President and a -party-leader, writes that "there is not in South America a country -more iconoclastic, politically speaking, than Colombia." Republican -evolution there has been peculiar: it has witnessed perpetual -anarchy, like other American democracies, and civil wars as long and -as sanguinary as those of the Argentine, but no long succession of -tenacious _caudillo_, personifications of local discord, whose -ambitions determine the intention of political conflict. - -In Colombia men have fought for ideas; anarchy there has had a -religious character. The parties had definite programmes, and in the -conflict of incompatible convictions they soon arrived at the -Byzantine method of destruction. Public and private wealth was -exhausted, the land was dispeopled, and inquisitors of religion or -free thought condemned their enemies to exile. "With us," Rafael -Nuñez admits "there has been an excess of political dogmatism." A -Jacobin ardour divides mankind; the fiery Colombian race is -impassioned by vague and abstract ideas. The champions of liberty -and the supporters of absolutism apply their principles to an -unstable republic; they legislate for a {202} democracy devoid of -passions and inimical castes; they build the future state by means of -syllogisms. - -These sanguinary struggles have a certain rude grandeur. On the -continent men fight for crafty _caudillos_, for the conquest of power -and fiscal treasure; the oligarchy which occupies the seat of -government defends its bureaucratic well-being from the parties in -opposition. In Colombia exalted convictions are the motives of -political enmities; men abandon fortune and family, as in the great -religious periods of history, to hasten to the defence of a -principle. These hidalgos waste the country and fall nobly, with the -Semitic ardour of Spanish crusaders. Heroes abound in the fervour of -these battles. Obedient to the logic of Jacobinism, Colombia -perishes, but the truth is saved.[1] - -The liberal party, victorious in 1849, promoted a vast democratic -programme: the romantic liberalism of the French thinkers, the -socialistic ideas of the Revolution of 1848, had reached Colombia. -The Colombians desired not only the liberation of the slaves, the -abolition of industrial monopolies, and the autonomy of the communes, -but also the realisation of the needs of democracy; all the political -liberties, subject to prudent reserves; direct and universal -suffrage, trial by jury, the suppression of the army, the abolition -of capital punishment, the institution of universities and scientific -diplomas, and the expulsion of the Jesuits, who in America were the -obstinate supporters of the old colonial system. Federation, a weak -executive, a secular State, and powerful communes: such was the -aspiration of the liberals. A fraction of the party bore a symbolic -name: it was known as _Golgotha_. In their civil wars the Catholics -chose Jesus of Nazareth for their {203} patron. Radicalism even -aspired to religious consecration; it founded a Christian anarchy, -like that of the primitive evangelical communities. It preached -fraternity and liberty, condemning political power. - -Nothing could be more disastrous to a disorganised republic than -rationalism of this type. It applied the principles formulated by -the extremest idealists in highly cultivated countries. Colombia, -shaken by revolutions, had need of a strong government; radicalism -destroyed it. There was no provincial life, yet it created the -omnipotent commune; it suppressed the army in a democracy threatened -by civil and external war, established trial by jury in a country -swarming with illiterates, and granted liberties wholesale to a -revolutionary people; it accorded political rights to the negro and -the Indian, servile and ignorant as they were, and demanded -federation, which is to say that it multiplied political disorder. -Foreseeing the errors of the future, Bolivar told the Colombians: "I -can plainly see our work destroyed and the maledictions of the -centuries falling upon our heads." - -From 1849 to 1853 the liberal party struggled to impose its -doctrines. The Constitution of 1853, celebrated in Colombian annals, -was doctrinaire and radical; it proclaimed the liberty of the press, -of thought, and of suffrage. By separating Church and State it -provoked a religious war and accepted a moderated political -centralisation. Thus the excesses of unity and of federation were -avoided. - -The liberal charter gave rise to lengthy quarrels. The States gave -themselves conflicting and opposite constitutions; some were -conservative and reinforced authority; some were radical and founded -an anarchical democracy; some were liberal and extended the suffrage; -some were moderate and conciliatory, uniting the ideas of all parties -in unstable equilibrium. {204} In a country already divided by -religious questions this variety of _status_ created a perpetual -disorder. - -A new Constitution, more precise than that of 1853, established the -federal system without restrictions; it was the triumph of the -"Golgothas" over the "Draconians," the radicals over the classic -liberals. The battle was renewed with fresh vigour. The religious -communities lost their legal character, and could no longer acquire -property; the State usurped their wealth and ruined them as in -Mexico. The impetuous radicals sapped not only the ecclesiastical -power, but the political power also. They reduced the presidential -period to two years, granted the provinces full sovereignty, -prohibited the death penalty without exception, conceded the absolute -liberty of the press, and authorised the buying and selling of arms. - -Excessive liberalism disorganised the country. Colombia suffered -much from this vain idealism; she became the social laboratory of -professors of Utopianism. The radicals created fresh elements of -discord; they attacked authority, religion, and national unity. In -1870, in the face of bankruptcy, the party abandoned its original -extremeness; it no longer professed anti-militarism, nor desired the -complete separation of Church and State. Sceptical as to the -benefits of the suffrage, it re-enforced the executive, in spite of -its original federal creed. - -The conservatives governed the country from the dissolution of -Greater Colombia, in 1829, until 1849; they performed the work of -organisation. Without forming an oligarchy, as in Venezuela and -Chili, they represented permanent interests and effective powers; -religion, the colonial nobility, and the patricians who won autonomy -for their country. They were conservatives in so far as they opposed -the radicals, but in 1832 they granted a political charter in which -they accepted liberal principles; they respected municipal {205} -liberties and the liberty of the press, surrounded all the powers of -the State with prestige and authority, as also the senate and the -magistrature, created a Council of State, so necessary in an -improvised democracy, protected Catholicism, and limited the -suffrage. To be a citizen a man required "an assured subsistence -without subjection to any one whatever in the quality of servant or -workman." In the social world they accepted the old division of -castes. They did not free the slaves, and they tolerated the -exportation of human merchandise. The radicals protested against -this shameful traffic; in 1842 regulations were passed affecting -black immigration, and 1849 marked the fall of the conservative -party. Then arose eloquent demagogues, who preached a social gospel -much like that of the French revolutionists of 1848. - -Political life was less imperfect in Colombia than in other Latin -democracies. The opposition did sometimes triumph in the electoral -struggle; thus in 1837 Dr. Marques was elected president against the -will of General Santander, the government leader. I have spoken of -the solid organisation of the parties: however, there was no lack of -_caudillos_, whose influence in neo-Granzdan history was a lasting -one. - -The first President, General Santander, was one of Bolivar's -lieutenants, as was Flores in Ecuador and Paez in Venezuela. He -inherited the moral authority of the Liberator, and governed -pacifically from 1831. He aspired to absolutism, founded schools, -and organised the public finances; in London he commenced the -negotiation of the Colombian debt, declared Panama a free port, and -endeavoured to enforce unity and peace; conspirators and -revolutionaries he shot. - -After the founder of the nation came two strong personalities who -hold a prominent place in the history of Colombia: General Mosquera -and {206} Dr. Rafael Nuñez.[2] Their long rule is comparable to that -of Garcia-Moreno in Ecuador, or of Paez and Guzman-Blanco in -Venezuela. - -General Mosquera was at first a conservative leader; his education, -his origin, and his travels in Europe all divided him from the -democracy. He had the gift of command, which had been developed by -the direction of armies in his youth. President in 1845, he -developed the national wealth. His government, which lasted from -1845 to 1849, was distinguished by an intense material progress: -railways were constructed, steam navigation commenced on the River -Magdalena, the teaching in the universities was improved, the -finances were organised, the service of the debt was assured, and the -moral prestige of the country improved. - -This conservative President had liberal leanings. He presented laws -to Congress which made his old supporters uneasy; the abolition of -the "tenth" or tithe paid to the Church, and the diminution of fiscal -protection. It is difficult to believe that this lucky soldier -conceived the wise ambition to transform his government into a -liberal _régime_ without violence. Mosquera knew that after 1848 and -its echoes in Colombia the basis of his future popularity must be a -violent liberalism, and he became a federal and a democratic leader. -As military dictator he placed himself at the head of the revolution -of 1860, seized the capital, Bogota, and was elected President in -1861. He imposed his variable will, changed his ideas and his party -in order to retain power, and attempted to govern above the law and -above mankind. - -[Illustration: GENERAL MOSQUERA. President of Colombia (1845-1849, -1861-1864, 1865-1867). To face p. 206.] - -Mosquera declared a _Kulturkampf_, separated Church and State, exiled -the bishops, confiscated the goods of the convents, and, like -Guzman-Blanco, {207} created a national Church. Without the -authorisation of the supreme power no priest could exercise his -religious functions. The civil power was the supreme power; the -Church and her ministers were subject thereto. - -The President shot or suppressed his enemies, and imposed his policy -by terror; he enthroned militarism. Faithful armies followed him, -accustomed to victory. The domestic policy of New Granada did not -satisfy his ambition; he aspired to restore the Greater Colombia, and -dreamed the dream of Rosas and Santa-Cruz; the hegemony of his -country to be forced upon other peoples. He declared war upon -Ecuador, and was victorious. In 1864 he was followed by another -liberal, Dr. Murillo-Torro. In 1865 the military _caudillo_ resumed -the reins of government. He was hostile to Congress, and proclaimed -himself dictator; he violated the Constitution and the law, -intervened in the struggles of other States, and sought an absolute -and irresponsible authority. His own supporters conspired against -him, and sent him into exile. In Colombia he was the indisputable -authority, as Paez in Venezuela, from 1845 to 1867. - -After this long empire came a period of civil Presidents and military -Presidents, who moderated the ambitions of the liberals. Presently a -new _caudillo_ arose: Dr. Rafael Nuñez. Mosquera was first a -conservative, then a liberal. Nuñez, a liberal, fomented a -conservative reaction and dominated Colombian politics for twenty -years. - -At one time secretary to Mosquera, he had made a study of the -evolution of great States. He was not only a leader, but also a -diplomatist, and a philosopher in his political disinterestedness, -his lasting moral influence, and the width of his views. A theorist -like Balmaceda and Sarmiento, he none the less did not forget the -inevitable imperfections of {208} Colombia. He became President of -the Senate in 1878, and a minister of the Reformation and head of the -Republic in 1880. Democracy looked to him for a renaissance. - -In the heart of the liberal party Dr. Nuñez directed a new -independent group. He had been a radical in 1850, but he departed -from the rigidity of his original beliefs before the persistent -suggestions of experience. Why weaken the executive in an anarchical -nation--why increase the national troubles by the bitterness of -religious warfare? Nuñez became a liberal-conservative; he forgot -his original socialistic principles, the theories of Louis Blanc and -Saint-Simon, and applied a British common-sense to Colombian -politics.[3] - -His political ideas (expounded in various articles) were prudent and -conciliatory; no sterile idealism dominated Dr. Nuñez. He believed, -with many English statesmen, that "in politics there are no absolute -truths, and all things may be good or evil according to opportunity -and extent." This was the policy he opposed to Colombian dogmatism. -He believed that "politics is indissolubly bound up with the economic -problem." - -A conservative in religion, tolerant in the art of governing, he -taught the Jacobins of America some admirable lessons. "Our -population," he wrote, "does not exceed three millions of -inhabitants, the majority of whom are but slightly civilised. If the -social fraction called upon by its aptitudes to the functions of -government divides and subdivides itself and occupies itself in -weakening itself we shall never succeed in doing anything of -importance as legatees of the Peninsular domination." His ideal was -a free oligarchy, coherent in intention, and in action persistent. - -Equally lamentable were the division of the best {209} class of the -nation and the intolerance of the governing parties. Rafael Nuñez -preached respect for minorities. "The absolute exclusion from the -government of the parties in a minority," he said, "weakens the -national spirit, envenoms discussion, and creates extraordinary -dangers." Majorities have need of discussion and opposition. "The -myopia of party spirit," adds the _caudillo_, "fails to perceive the -virile vigour which a political group obtains by the mere fact of -giving proofs of tolerance, justice, and respect for its defenceless -adversary." "When for some extraordinary reason one of the great -parties disappears, the surviving party splits up into fractions, and -these fractions fight among themselves as bitterly as when they have -to face a common enemy: even more bitterly." - -The leader of the independents had studied political science not only -in foreign books, but also in practice, in public life; he had a -profound acquaintance with the country which he governed, and with -the Latin American vices which are the incurable weakness of these -new democracies. "We have no viceroy in Colombia," he said, "but -anonymous rulers. We have a written liberty, but no practical -liberty. We have a Republic, but only in name, for opinion is not -expressed by the only legitimate means, which is the suffrage." "It -is a grave error, generally accepted by us, that the sole object of a -political party and all its efforts should tend toward the possession -of the public power, represented by the leadership of the national -army." - -He defends the principle of authority as against anarchy. "The best -of instruments, destined for the long and arduous task of civilising -the human species." - -Respect for the constituted powers is unknown in Colombia. All -"dynamic mechanism" should have a governor, that is, a counterpoise -to the predominant {210} impulse. Nuñez writes: "Monarchies need -liberal accessory institutions, and republics restrictive or -conservative institutions, without which the former degenerate into -autocracies and the latter into anarchies, which announce the -approach of despotism." In default of the principle of authority, so -necessary and generally so feeble in democracies, Rafael Nuñez sought -for "elements of order in the moral domain." - -He became a conservator; he protected religion, like Portales, in -order to give a disorganised nation the firm unity of a law. The -ex-radical ordered the teaching of religion in the schools. -"Traitor!" cried his former supporters, but if he renounced his -former dogmas it was in his intellectual prime, before the lamentable -spectacle of an unstable republic. "Fanaticism," he wrote, "is not -religion any more than demagogy is liberty; but between religion and -morality there is an indissoluble bond." - -Colombia had need of a stable internal law, of a morality. To obtain -order Dr. Nuñez desired a Catholic unity; he abandoned his radical -convictions, and put his trust in authority, religion, and moderate -centralisation. But were not the articles of his new programme the -result of a free examination of reality and of history? The leaders -of the independents were inaugurating an experimental politics. - -He accepted neither abstract principles nor theories imported from -other continents. Free trade obtained in Colombia: it is the English -economic dogma. "With us," explained the statesman, "free mercantile -exchange simply transforms the artisan into a mere proletarian -working man, into food for powder or a demagogue, for free trade -practically leaves only two industries vigorous--commerce and -agriculture--to which those who lack capital and credit cannot as a -rule devote themselves." This _caudillo_ wished to see a real -autonomy based on a moderate protectionism: {211} as President he -fostered industries and condemned the bureaucracy; he knew that the -latter favoured revolutions, and that men seldom fight in civil -conflicts except to obtain public employment. "The motives for -disturbing the peace," said he, "will be less and less powerful as -the official system ceases to monopolise the opportunities of work." - -Dr. Nuñez was a sociologist; he had studied Comte and Spencer; he -wrote of society and its laws, starting from the liberalism of -Lamartine to arrive at the British prudence of Guizot. An eminent -Colombian, Don Miguel Antonio Caro, called him "the providential and -necessary man," and demanded recognition of his political -infallibility. - -When he came into power in 1880 he was supported by the independents -and the conservatives; men hoped for reform and peace as the result -of his political action. Under his government public order was -untroubled. He introduced economies in the finances, and realised, -like Mosquera, many works of material progress; he founded a national -bank, reformed the university, and convoked, like Bolivar, a Congress -of plenipotentiaries at Panama. - -Dr. Zaldua followed him in 1882. But the influence of the great -_caudillo_ was not yet at an end; he was re-elected in 1884 for a -period of two years, and exercised a moral dictatorship. He proposed -to a friendly Congress the revision of the Constitution of 1863. - -He then applied his political ideas, condemning the two years' -presidency, excessive federalism, and the licence and demagogy of the -country; he organised a strong executive, conceded liberty to the -Church, increased the duration of the presidential term, and -initiated a prudent measure of concentration. The Constitution of -1885 ratified the triumph of the conservatives. - -From that time forward the President was {212} _imperator_; elected -for six years in 1886, re-elected in 1892, he continued to exercise -the supreme power at intervals. He lived at Carthagena, and -Vice-Presidents (designated by himself) replaced him. He became the -tutor of the Republic; the governors were his pro-consuls. He was -the last great man produced by Colombia, that fruitful soil for -politicians and men of letters. - -Mosquera represented federalism and radicalism; Nuñez unity and -tolerance. Fresh revolutions, conflicts between conservatives and -liberals, have retarded the national development; new chiefs have -arisen, demigods of the world of politics. The conservative work of -Nuñez has proved sterile: Colombia is always the land of eloquence -and Jacobinism, extravagant and excessive as the tropics themselves. -She still awaits fresh dictators who shall organise the democracy of -the future. - - -[1] In his book _Desde Cerca_ (Paris, 1908) General Holguin writes -that Colombia has known 27 civil wars. In that of 1879 she lost -80,000 men. She has spent 37 million pesos (gold) in revolutions. - -[2] There was one demagogue President in this State who, when the -slaves were freed, excited a conflict of castes: General Obaudo. - -[3] Rafael Nuñez, _La Reforma politica en Colombia_, Bogota, 1885. - - - - -{213} - -CHAPTER II - -ECUADOR - -Religious conflicts--General Flores and his political -labours--Garcia-Moreno--The Republic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. - - -Ecuador constituted itself a free democracy after a long period of -indecision. Guayaquil aspired to be an independent state; it -listened to the melodious aspirations of its poet, Olmedo, and at -other times sought to unite itself to Peru. Bolivar and La Mar both -sought to claim this city, which a proud provincialism called "the -pearl of the Guayas." The vast ambitions of Bolivar won the day, and -Ecuador became a province of Greater Colombia, under the hegemony of -Venezuela or New Granada. - -General Juan José Flores, a Venezuelan, and a friend and lieutenant -of the Liberator's, founded the Ecuadorian Republic in 1830. He was -the "Father of the Country," and teacher and guardian of this -precocious nation, as was Paez in Venezuela and Sucre in Bolivia. He -governed the country for fifteen years, being elected President in -1831, in 1839, and in 1843. The unity of Colombia, maintained by the -autocracy of Bolivar, was an obstacle in the way of Flores' ambitions -for Ecuador; he therefore sought to destroy the federal organisation. -Sucre, too, whose young and glorious shoulders were soon to sustain -the authority of a liberator, was opposed to the ambitions of the -Venezuelan _caudillo_. {214} The latter convoked a Constituent -Assembly at Riobamba. The first national statute of the equatorial -republic was then promulgated: it established a representative -government with two Chambers, an executive independent of these -Chambers, and Catholicism as the sole State religion: these were the -bases of the Constitution. Ecuador once independent, an era of -incessant disturbances set in; men fought for their leaders and for -ideas. Flores symbolised the principles of the conservatives, -inimical to radicalism and democracy; he dreamed of a strong -executive, a national religion, and a limited suffrage. His ideal -was a presidency of eight years, and a senate of twelve, an echo of -the Bolivian Constitution. He accepted monarchy as the necessary -solution of Ecuadorian anarchy; he fell because he attempted the -restoration of a superannuated system. - -He and Rocafuerte, a liberal _caudillo_, the leader of a party of -cultivated youth, shared the public functions between them. When -Flores was President, Rocafuerte was governor of Guayaquil; when -Rocafuerte ruled, Flores was commander-in-chief of the army. Both -were sent into exile; they were successively enemies and allies. -Flores played the tyrant, suppressed liberties, and aspired to the -dictatorship; when he fell from power he prepared filibustering -expeditions in Europe to be launched against his country. Spain -offered him her aid in 1846. "Treason!" cried the Ecuadorian -patriots. The chimera of a monarchist, the scepticism of an -ambitious foreigner who had fruitlessly created a new country on the -ruins of Greater Colombia, say we, after half a century has elapsed. -America was stirred by the campaign of reconquest which he headed; in -1851 his temerarious plan had entirely miscarried, and he sought the -aid of Peru in order to invade his country, then a prey to anarchy. -He was not successful in the field, and after a long period {215} of -ostracism he joined Garcia-Moreno, the leader of the conservative -forces; under the authority of the latter his influence decayed and -his history ended. His disciple Rocafuerte was an excellent -administrator, who founded schools, organised the National Guard, -established military colonies in the east, partially secularised -education, proved a liberal patron of arts and letters, and commenced -the codification of the civil and penal laws. - -In 1851 General Urbina forced a radical government upon Ecuador; he -was the genius of destruction, an intriguer, an ambitious man whose -excesses provoked a conservative reaction. He attempted in vain to -establish a military _régime_. Garcia-Moreno denounced the treason -of Flores and the radicalism of Urbina, and his moral influence -overcame the prevailing anarchy. This remarkable statesman was born -at Guayaquil in 1821; he came of a Castilian family. His mother -trained him strictly in poverty; a priest, Father Bethencourt, -directed his later education. In 1836 he entered the University of -Quito, and soon became the supervisor of his own companions--an -undergraduate autocrat. Tall, of a severe aspect, the forehead wide, -and the eyes forceful, he was already revealed as a leader of men. -He devoted himself with ardour to mathematics and philosophy; he -acquired general ideas and an analytical turn of mind. Endowed with -a prodigious memory and a vigorous dialectic, always master of -himself, he had every desirable gift. Towards his nineteenth year -his chaste youth passed through a moral crisis. He issued therefrom, -according to his biographer, less the devotee but not less of a -believer. Like Goethe, he made up his mind abruptly. He would not -be guilty of timidity; he liberated himself from the tutelage of the -world by dint of heroism; he was Mucius Scævola before he was Cæsar. -His fiery spirit and irreducible will {216} made him a leader whom -all respected, a mystic whom the conservatives acclaimed. - -Garcia-Moreno intervened in politics as a journalist; he was a -satiric poet, and founded various polemical sheets: _El Zurriago_, -_El Vengador_, and _El Diablo_. He drafted pamphlets, accused and -condemned in prose and in verse, and wrote his classic _Epistle to -Fabius_ concerning the poverty of the times. His style was steely, -energetic, rarely declamatory; he wrote apostrophes in the manner of -Juvenal; he brought into politics a rude indignation, the rebellious -anger of a Hebrew prophet, announcing the final catastrophe of -democracy; as a journalist he represented the national interests. In -1846, when the threat of a Spanish invasion hung over Ecuador, -Garcia-Moreno roused America by his writings. He was the pacificator -of Guayaquil, where the partisans of Flores had risen in insurrection. - -A voyage to Europe brought the young writer into contact with the -social revolution of 1848. The spectacle of triumphant anarchy -re-enforced his conservative opinions. In Ecuador radicalism -triumphed in 1850; on his return the conservative leader protected -the Jesuits expelled from Colombia, demanded the return of their -property, and authorised them to found colleges. He published a -pamphlet, _Defence of the Jesuits_, in which he called them "the -creators of peace and order," and stated with fearless candour that -he was a Catholic and was proud of the fact. - -The military-radical dictatorship of Urbina devastated the country; -the "Tauras," a prætorian guard, as brutal as the "Mazorqueros" of -Rosas, killed and pillaged, and were the docile servants of tyranny. -Garcia-Moreno then founded the journal _La Nación_, and preached the -doctrine that there can be no social progress in a country which does -not foster material progress, and in which a devouring poverty is -{217} triumphant. He was arrested and exiled. He reached Europe -once more in 1854, and there gave much time to the study of European -politics. He had been something of a Gallican on the subject of the -relations of Church and State, believing in the supremacy of the -civil power. His opinions changed. Subscribing to the tradition of -those Popes who aspired to empire, he considered that the Church -should be absolute sovereign above all earthly powers. But a -triumphant radicalism was secularising ecclesiastical foundations, -and convents were being invaded by the troops. The conservative -_caudillo_ returned from exile in 1856, and was met with every -species of homage; he was elected Mayor of Quito, and rector of the -University. He founded a political party--that of national union. -Elected senator, he called, with the authority of an avenging -tribune, for honest finances, the suppression of the masonic lodges, -a law of public education, and the abolition of the poll tax, which -burdened the native, and represented all the forces of social -conservation under the tutelage of the Church. - -The Convention of 1860 made him provisional President, then -constitutional President. Garcia-Moreno inaugurated a clerical -semi-dictatorship after thirty years of revolutions. He did not -limit the suffrage; he depended on the democracy to defeat unpopular -demagogues. He believed that "to moralise a country one must give it -a Catholic Constitution, and, to ensure the necessary cohesion, a -statute of unity." He organised the finances, the army, the schools; -he reduced the fiscal expenditure; founded at Quito a Tribunal of -Accounts, which he supervised himself; he waged a pitiless war upon -smuggling, peculation, and bureaucracy; he built roads connecting the -capital with the coast, ruined militarism, and founded a civil -_régime_. - -He was a Catholic President. As in the Colonial {218} period, -politics centred upon the Church. The clergy taught and legislated. -"The Church," said Garcia-Moreno, "must march side by side with the -civil power under conditions of true independence." He entrusted -public education to the religious congregations, and prepared to sign -a _concordat_ with the Church; Catholicism was to be recognised as -the State religion, to the exclusion of all foreign sects and cults, -and the bishops would supervise the colleges and universities; they -would choose the textbooks to be used, and the government, like the -Spanish Inquisition, would see that no forbidden works were -introduced. The ecclesiastical charter would be renewed, and as a -set-off the government would annul the _exequatur_, the authorisation -which the American governments accorded to the pontifical bulls, that -these might be obeyed. More Catholic than the Sacred College, -Garcia-Moreno insisted upon the reform of the clergy, despite the -hesitation of the Pope. Once the Concordat was signed; Pius IX. -created new dioceses, and ecclesiastical courts, which tried all -causes relating to the faith--to religious matters in general, and to -marriage and divorce. The conservative leader aspired to a Catholic -Imperialism. He intervened in the domestic affairs of Colombia, -where a radical President was in power; he eulogised the Mexican -Empire, which was to deliver the country from the "excesses of a -rapacious, immoral and turbulent demagogy." He dreamed of an America -enfeoffed to the Papacy. - -Presidents followed him who were weak in the face of anarchy: -Borrero, Carrion, Espinosa. The great _caudillo_ did not lose his -influence; many times he was forced to leave his retreat in order to -pacify a province or direct a political party. In 1860 he returned -to power, to lay the foundations of a stable theocracy. His -governmental programme read like an episcopal address. As essential -articles appeared {219} "the respect and protection of the Catholic -Church, unshakable attachment to the Holy See, education based on -morality and faith, and liberty for all and in everything, excepting -crime and criminals." He declared that civilisation, "the fruit of -Catholicism, degenerates and becomes impure in proportion as it -departs from Catholic principles"; that "religion is the sole bond -which is left to us in this country, divided as it is by the -interests of parties, races, and beliefs." The new Constitution was -to conform to the principles of the Syllabus; in Ecuador no one was -to be elected or eligible who did not profess the Catholic religion, -and whosoever should belong to a sect condemned by the Church would -lose his civil rights. In his mystic ardour, he consecrated his -country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and in 1873 he protested, in a -note addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the King of -Italy, against the taking of Rome and the confiscation of the Papal -States. His ideal was the monarchy of Philip II.; the Jesuit Empire -of Paraguay; the return of the Middle Ages, and a conventual peace. -Like Rafael Nuñez and Portales, he believed that "religion is the -only national tradition in these democracies at the mercy of -anarchy--the creative agent, the instrument of political unity." -Religion is the foundation of morality, and "the absence of morality -is the ruin of the Republic; there are no good manners and morals -without a pure clergy, and a Church free of all official tutelage." -A moralising despot, he repressed concubinage, and imposed Catholic -marriage or chastity upon his subjects. Virtue, faith, and order: -there was his ideal. - -The authoritative Constitution which he promulgated is analogous to -the Chilian statute of 1883. The President was re-eligible; his -mandate was for ten years; he could govern for a third period after -his immediate successor. The government was at {220} the head of the -army, and appointed all provincial authorities; political rebellion -was punished as high treason. The legislative term was six years for -deputies and nine for senators. Garcia-Moreno strictly observed this -new law; he made war upon revolutionaries, and condemned the leaders -of revolts and conspiracies to death. Internal order re-established, -he commenced a series of vast reforms in the national finances, in -public education, and in legislation; he opened schools, -re-established the death penalty, sent officers to Prussia to follow -the military manoeuvres, reorganised the school of medicine, founded -an astronomical observatory, and attracted German Jesuits who were to -teach physics and chemistry. He proved himself a potent organiser: -"Twenty-five years are needed," he said, "to establish my system." -Re-elected in 1875, he was quickly overthrown by his enemies. He -resisted to the death; the dagger of an enemy struck him down in the -mournful solitude of the _plaza_ of Quito, and he fell near the -cathedral in which he had worshipped. A long silence, a time of deep -mourning, followed the death of the _caudillo_; he was named a second -Gregory the Great, the regenerator of his country, the martyr of -Catholic civilisation. - -Indefatigable, stoical, just, strong in decision, admirably logical -in his life, Garcia-Moreno was one of the greatest personalities of -American history. He was no tyrant without doctrines, like -Guzman-Blanco or Porfirio Diaz. In fifteen years (1859-74) he -completely transformed his little country according to a vast -political system which only death prevented him from realising. A -mystic of the Spanish type, he was not content with sterile -contemplation; he needed action; he was an organiser and a creator. - -He felt the aid and the continual presence of God; he asked his -friends for their prayers, and read daily in _The Imitation of -Christ_. He was even too much {221} of a Catholic for the -conservatives; he was often to be seen carrying the daïs in -procession. "A Christian Hercules, a disciple of Charlemagne and St. -Louis," writes Father Berthe, his ingenuous and enthusiastic -biographer. "A hero of Jesus Christ, not of Plutarch," said Louis -Veuillot in a dithyramb; while his enemies, Montalvo and Moncayo, -accused him of treason, Jesuitism, and cruelty. Montalvo recognised, -however, in the conservative President, "a sublime intelligence, a -superiority to every trial, a strong, imperious, invincible will." -Superior to exaggerated eulogy and acerbated criticism, Garcia-Moreno -represented the great civilising principles in the Ecuadorian -democracy; unity, the struggle against a militarism of thirty years' -standing, material progress, religion, morality, and strong -government against licence and demagogy. As an autocrat he resembled -all great American leaders; but he surpassed them in idealism, by the -logic of his actions and the originality of his essay in theocracy. -With Philip II. and the Paraguayan Jesuits, he believed Catholicism -to be an instrument of culture, and his policy was for fifteen years -the exaltation of that religion. Only Nuñez and Balmaceda brought -equally coherent ideas to the task of government. No one in Ecuador, -neither Veintemilla, nor Borrero, nor Alfaro, could gather up the -inheritance of this admirable despot. Carlyle, had he known him, -would have set him in his gallery of heroes. - - - - -{222} - -CHAPTER III - - THE ANARCHY OF THE TROPICS--CENTRAL - AMERICA--HAYTI--SAN DOMINGO - -Tyrannies and revolutions--The action of climate and miscegenation--A -republic of negroes: Hayti. - - -In Central America and the islands of the Antilles civil wars are the -result not merely of racial conflict, but also of the enervating -action of the Tropics. Precocious, sensual, impressionable, the -Americans of these vast territories devote their energies to local -politics. Industry, commerce, and agriculture are in a state of -decay, and the unruly imagination of the Creole expends itself in -constitutions, programmes, and lyrical discourse; in these regions -anarchy is sovereign mistress. - -Five republics came into being here, which have lived in a continual -state of conflict, their aim being political domination. Internal -disorders and international wars are continual. Ambitious generals -have sometimes forced a provisional unity upon the continent, but it -is soon divided by the anarchy and dictatorships which continually -overwhelm the soil of the Tropics. - -It is impossible to distinguish a military period and an industrial -period in the history of Central America. Intellectuals and generals -govern alternately, it is true, but thanks to identical methods; they -all exercise the same sanguinary tutelage. A few dictators whose -rule has been slightly more {223} prolonged have at times contrived -to increase the number of schools or develop the national finances, -but personal initiative and the importation of foreign capital are -equally out of the question under the rule of autocracies which -govern solely by grace of the military element. Liberty, wealth, and -human rights are the appanage of inhuman dictators. - -The Republic was proclaimed and the political Constitution adopted in -Central America on the 10th of April, 1825. It was then that the -autonomous life of the five united provinces commenced. General -Manuel Joseph was the first President of Central America. The -Federal Statute of 1824 attributed all powers to Congress: it -initiated a parliamentary dictatorship. As against the popular -assembly the Executive was powerless, and the Senate, to which the -Constitution confided the final sanction of the laws promulgated by -Congress, was weak in point of numbers. As in all republics, the -government was popular, representative, and federal. The equality of -all citizens and the abolition of slavery being decreed, it was a new -era that opened, liberal and romantic. - -In the Lower Chamber Guatemala had the majority, and from this -superiority ensued a tendency to political domination which provoked -a long series of internal wars. Here was no conflict of nations, but -of the interests of rival provinces or the quarrels of individual -generals. Salvador wished to realise its autonomy; a virile and -well-peopled republic, she could not readily accept the hegemony of -Guatemala. Here is one aspect of this monotonous history: the -frequent wars which divided Guatemala and Salvador. They struggled -for supremacy, for moral tutelage. The federal tie survived, and the -Assemblies multiplied; there were General Assemblies and Provisional -Assemblies. Suddenly one of the States declared void the pact which -united it to the {224} other republics: Congress was dissolved, and -at once re-elected. There was a perpetual confusion of powers. - -During the first twenty years of liberty the anarchical instinct -which sought to separate the republics and the calm reason which -sought to unite them under the pressure of powerful traditions were -in mutual conflict. It was the conflict of nationalism and unity. -As in Chili the Carreras opposed the authority of San Martin, as in -Venezuela Paez rebelled against the unification of Bolivar, so -Carrera the Guatemalan general warred against Morazan, the _caudillo_ -of the Unitarian party, during twelve years of a struggle of province -with province. - -However, the States separated one from another, and united anew under -the domination of a theoretical federation; men still legislated in -Congresses, and built the future nation with the ardour of Jacobins: -eleven Assemblies of the Confederation prepared codes and statutes. -One essential trait of the new laws was their secular spirit, and -their tendency to aggressive action against the clergy. Even sooner -than Mexico these assemblies promulgated the laws of the Reformation; -even before the era of religious quarrels opened in Colombia the -radical fervour which was contemporary with the liberalism of -Rivadavia was at work in Central America. For that matter, it -appeared to be a remnant of the old "regalism." In 1829 the Assembly -suppressed all convents of monks; in 1830 Honduras declared that -secular priests might marry; in Guatemala it was enacted that the -sons of members of the clergy ordained _in sacris_ were necessarily -their heirs. In 1832 toleration was proclaimed, but, on the other -hand, the States were continually fighting over the question of -patronage, and the antagonism between the State, which wished to -impose its tutelage, and the rebellious Church was perpetual. - -{225} - -Two influences dominated the minds of the new law-makers: English -utilitarianism and Yankee federalism. Here French ideas were not -predominant. But the tropical republics could not assimilate the -severe English doctrine. In vain, in 1832, did Congress go into -mourning on the occasion of the death of Bentham; in vain was -absolute liberty of testimony proclaimed in Guatemala. The double -and inevitable influence of tradition and race cannot be destroyed by -means of improvised laws. - -Central America borrowed from the United States their mode of -suffrage, the federal system, the organisation of the jury, and the -codes of Louisiana. But popular agitation condemned the institution -of the jury; the codes borrowed from the United States did not -annihilate barbarism, and the federal system was powerless to enforce -unity. - -In 1842 this troublous Confederation of sister nations was dissolved. -Once these nations were definitely separated, what we may call the -period of provincial history commenced; it was confused, yet -identical in the case of the various States. Above the anarchical -multitude rose energetic _caudillos_; necessary tyrants, who -endeavoured to enforce order in the interior, and to organise the -national finances. - -The history of Costa Rica forms the only exception among these -republics oscillating between tyranny and demagogy. In this country -were no clearly divided social castes, no great capitalists, and no -crowds of proletariats. A small homogeneous State, in which men were -always known as _hermanicos_ ("brotherlies") because their interests -and their ideas were identical, Costa Rica seemed to justify the -classic idea which associated the success of the republican system -with limited territories and small human groups. Work, unity, and -lasting peace have been the characteristics of social evolution in -{226} Costa Rica. While neighbouring States were at war this tiny -republic was progressing peacefully. - -Salvador also developed normally without the discords of Nicaragua or -Guatemala. Race explains the differences to be observed in these -great theatres of political experience; in Salvador and Costa Rica -the Spanish element was predominant, the castes were confounded, the -population was dense, and the birth-rate high. In Honduras mulattos -abounded, and in Nicaragua and Guatemala the races were mixed, and -the Indians were superior in point of numbers. Among these five -tropical republics those which progressed were those in which the -race was homogeneous, or in which the Iberian conquerors outnumbered -the Indians, negroes, and mulattos. - -The very tropical anarchy which has turned Central America into a -perpetual theatre of civil wars has also continually divided the two -zones of the ancient Hispaniola: San Domingo and Hayti. In the one -the Spaniards ruled, in the other the French, and the antagonism of -these two Powers was of long duration. Hayti is a negro State, and -San Domingo refused to submit to the tyranny of ex-slaves. Conflicts -of a political origin were supplemented by the warfare of castes. -Caudillos and tyrants have succeeded one another in the government; -revolutions and domestic wars have continually troubled these two -small States, over which the United States have gradually extended -their tutelage. - -As early as the seventeenth century the French were established in -Hispaniola, on the northern coast; bold Normans, herdsmen and -shepherds, the celebrated buccaneers, had founded a kind of forest -republic ruled by special laws. In 1691 this territory was a French -colony, and in 1726 it contained 30,000 free inhabitants and 100,000 -slaves, black or mulatto. The Creoles, according to the chroniclers -of the time, were proud and inconstant, idle and {227} sceptical as -to religion. The negroes, chiefly occupied in servile labour, -superstitious and imprudent, formed the bulk of the slaves. A -Jesuit, Father Charlevoix, who had observed them, wrote in 1725: -"Properly speaking we may say that the negroes between Cap Blanc and -Cap Noir have been born only for slavery."[1] It was said that the -negroes were wont to celebrate the rites of a secret worship in the -forest, and were preparing to fight for their liberty. They hated -the other castes, the whites, the free negroes, and the mulattos; and -the Hayti of the future was born of this racial hatred. Ex-slaves -governed the isle, and found in bloody hecatombs revenge for their -long servitude. These formed the oligarchy, an intolerable and -intolerant aristocracy, inimical to whites and mulattos. Like the -revolts of slaves in the ancient world, these rebellions of American -serfs were the occasion of wars of extermination. The French -Revolution provoked them by its Utopian liberalism: Mirabeau and -Lafayette were friends of the negro, and the Convention decreed the -abolition of slavery in the colonies in 1794. The slaves had risen -already, in 1791, at the first rumours of the risings in France, -burning property and killing their rulers. - -They therefore attained political and civil liberty suddenly, with no -prudent transitions. A _caudillo_, Toussaint Louverture, was the -hero of the war of liberation. The metropolis made this ex-coachman -a general. Sober and active, crafty and patriotic, he aspired to -seize the reins of government; he expelled the English and fought -against the people of colour who were led by General Rigaud; he was -the indomitable defender of his race. The slaves regarded him as a -tutelary deity; they thought him inspired; he gradually became the -fetish of a superstitious caste. In 1801 an Assembly elected him -governor for life; but he did not renounce the protection of {228} -France. In vain did his adulators call him the Napoleon of the -negroes; he did not aspire to absolute rule. He organised an army -and set the finances in order; he proved a vigilant administrator. -Like the dictator Francia in Paraguay, he forced his people to work -by strict regulations; he prosecuted vagabonds, won the esteem of the -whites, and introduced a severe morality into matters of finance. - -Napoleon wished to reconquer the emancipated colony, and sent a -strong army against it. The negroes rallied round their chief, and -offered a heroic resistance; finally the French withdrew, and -abandoned the island to the ex-slaves. In 1825 the metropolis -recognised the independence of Hayti. - -The Constitution of the new republic was promulgated in 1801. -Without disdaining the suzerainty of France, which had prematurely -abolished slavery, the negroes made laws intended to establish a -democracy; they organised municipalities, and recognised Catholicism -as the State religion. They recognised that labour, painful as it is -to an indolent nation, is yet obligatory. From this time forward the -history of Hayti is a perpetual succession of civil wars and -dictatorships. Liberal laws were given to a caste habituated to -slavery. Pétion, who was honoured by the friendship of Bolivar, was -President in 1807; he applied himself more especially to the -education of his people, and was called the father of his country; -his government was a period of peace between two crises of vandalism. -Before him the successor of Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines, had -ordered the killing of all the whites, and had commenced a disastrous -racial war. Nothing could be more hateful to the ex-slaves than the -aristocracy of the skin; neither whites nor mulattos escaped the fury -of the rulers. The integrity of the negro race was the ideal of -these ferocious dictators. - -{229} - -No South American republic had to suffer such ill-augured tyrannies -as those of Hayti; no autocracy was so formidable as that of these -ex-slaves, whose leaders were notable amateurs of pageantry and -bloodshed. Soulouque, the sworn enemy of the mulattos, proclaimed -himself Emperor in 1849, taking the name of Faustinus I., and -surrounding himself with a grotesquely ambitious court: he was the -most execrable of despots. The Republic was re-established in 1859, -and the monotonous sequence of servile coxcombs who made use of their -power to gratify their passion for extermination recommenced: civil -wars, international wars, assassinations, and massacres filled the -bloodstained chronicles of the isle. The Haytian rulers exercised a -harsh domination over San Domingo, where mulattos abounded and the -Spanish tradition was not extinct; the negro invasion exiled the -Dominican writers, destroyed the culture of the university, and swept -like a wave of barbarism into the brilliant colony. - -The Dominicans abhorred their long servitude, and, despite the -terrible reprisals of their rulers, they prepared in silence for -liberation. In 1821 Nuñez de Caceres declared San Domingo to be -separated from Spain, and demanded protection of Colombia; the -President of Hayti, Boyer, could not permit this unexpected autonomy, -and sent an army to occupy the capital of the new republic. After a -long period of secret preparation another group of patriots again -proclaimed the independence of San Domingo, and in 1844 a movement -which coincided with the revolt of the Haytian liberals against the -tyranny of Boyer. This campaign, known as "the Revolt," was directed -by an impassioned ideologist, Juan-Pablo Duarte, who was surrounded -by intellectuals and men of action. The traditional oppressors were -vanquished, and the victors proclaimed that "the peoples of the -ancient Spanish portion, in vindication of their rights {230} and -desiring to provide for their own welfare and future happiness in a -just and legal manner, have formed themselves into a free, -independent, and sovereign State." - -In winning her autonomy San Domingo did not realise the dream of the -strict republicans. Her history is less troubled than that of Hayti, -and education and literature have attained an astonishing development -in the old Spanish colony, but political life has been indecisive and -full of revolutionary upheavals, as in the other democracies of South -America. Perhaps we must attribute to the great number of mulattos, -always incapable of self-government, or to the long duration of the -Haytian domination, the anarchy of this, one of the youngest of the -overseas republics. After 1844, the year of liberation, Santana, a -half-breed dictator, cunning, uncultured, and implacable in hatred, -retained the supreme power. The Februarists were at the head of the -revolution known as the Reformation--Duarte, Mella, Sanchez--noble -idealists in love with the idea of democracy. However, a _caudillo_ -profited by this movement of regeneration, overruling the ideologists -in the name of practical despotism. "Februarism," said a remarkable -Dominican thinker, "that is to say, the constitution of a free -government founded upon equity, without _caciquism_ and without the -shameful fetters which sometimes limit the exercise of sovereignty, -has predominated for too short a time on two or three occasions of -our national life. On the contrary, Santanism--that is, personal -autocracy, rigid and stifling, such as characterised the entire -policy of Santana, and which has been practised since his time by -nearly all our rulers, attenuated in some cases and in others -exasperated--Santanism seems to have deep and inextricable roots."[2] - -But is it not the fact that despotism is the necessary {231} form of -all government in these republics, where the division of castes -opposes unity and the normal development of nationality? The future -of Haytians and Dominicans both is full of grave problems: among the -first we find poetry, imagination, a high state of culture, but -political evolution is very slow. The peoples of the Tropics seem -incapable of order, laborious patience, and method; so that the -prodigal literature of San Domingo forms a striking contrast to the -archaic quality of its political life. "Its geographical situation," -says Señor Garcia Godoy, "places it almost at the mercy of North -American imperialism." Hayti is still a barbarous democracy. It is -not easy to turn a colony of negro slaves into an orderly and -prosperous republic merely by virtue of political charters of foreign -origin; and it has not been proved that parliamentarism, municipal -life, and the classic division of powers, the creation of the East, -form an adequate system of government for negroes and mulattos. In -vain did General Légitime, once President of Hayti, affirm that had -they been properly encouraged and directed, his people would already -have arrived at "the highest degree of prosperity and civilisation"; -in vain did he pretend that the decadence of his country was due not -to a question of race but to a problem of social economy: excess of -taxation and paper money. Hayti possesses immense natural wealth, -yet the taxes are crushing, the railways go bankrupt, labourers -emigrate, and agriculture and industry are dwindling, as the General -recognised; all because the indolence of the race does not permit it -to take advantage of the fertility of the soil nor to govern itself. - - -[1] _Histoire de l'Isle cspagnole_, Amsterdam, 1733, vol. iv. p. 362. - -[2] _Rufinito_, by F. Garcia Godoy, Santo Domingo, 1908, pp. 53, 54. - - - - -{233} - -BOOK V - -_INTELLECTUAL EVOLUTION_ - -Spain founded universities in America, where she exercised a true -monopoly of ideas. The Revolution in her colonies was inspired by -the doctrines of the French Encyclopædists. Since then--that is, -during the whole of the nineteenth century--the metropolis has been -losing the greater portion of her ancient intellectual privileges. -Political and literary ideas, romanticism and liberalism, faith in -reason and poetic enthusiasm, all these have been imported from -France. It is interesting to study the results of this lasting -influence in philosophy and letters. - - - - -{235} - -CHAPTER I - -POLITICAL IDEOLOGY - -Conservatives and -liberals--Lastarria--Bilbao--Echeverria--Montalvo--Vigil--The -Revolution of 1848 and its influence in America--English ideas: -Bello, Alberdi--The educationists. - - -The revolutionists of America hastily sought for an ideology which -should ratify their victory. By virtue of French ideas they had -demolished an ancient organisation, had thrown off the Spanish -tyranny, and had exalted anarchy in speech and in verse. To raise -future cities in the wilderness they had need of a political gospel. - -They founded the Republic, imported institutions from abroad, and -granted all the political liberties to an amorphous crowd. The first -disputes were already audible between the defenders of the old order -and the radicals who sought to destroy it; conservatives and liberals -appeared at an identical moment of republican life. Militarism, -revolutions, and the warfare of _caudillos_ were in part explained by -the profound differences between the champions of tradition and the -soldiers of liberty. - -Dominated by the need to live, these nations created a political -philosophy. They disregarded criticism and analysis; they affirmed -and constructed; they required a faith as intolerant as the archaic -dogmas. Democracy and liberalism were the essential articles of this -secular religion. To the eyes of the new orthodoxy the convictions -of the {236} monarchists and absolutists were dangerous heresies: -royalists were prosecuted as free-thinkers had been of old. Thought -was not divorced from action. It reflected the political unrest; it -prepared or justified political transformations. A species of -pragmatism was characteristic of American thought. Poetry was rhymed -oratory, lyrical declamation; the poet condemned any form of civil -autocracy; he execrated tyrants, or evoked ingenuous liberties; he -could not conceive of pure thought as divorced from life. Alberdi, -an Argentine thinker, wrote: "Philosophy is meant for politics, -morality, industry, and history, and if it does not serve them it is -a puerile and a trifling science." He condemned the analysis of the -eighteenth century, which "dissolves and corrupts everything"; to -vain ideology, to the question whether "ideas and sensations, memory -and reminiscence are distinct faculties," he preferred "an Argentine -philosophy in which are distilled the social and moral needs of our -country; a clear, democratic, progressive, and popular philosophy, -with ideas like those of Condorcet; human perfectibility, continual -progress of the human species; a philosophy which inspires men with -the love of country and the love of humanity." - -The champions of liberalism defined the principles of the new social -state; they were brilliant commentators, their subject being the -ideas of French and Spanish philosophy. Their action in a society in -which the old colonial prejudices were still triumphant was -categorical and magistral. They created institutions and laws, and -applied foreign doctrines to the troubles of the time. Sometimes -they seemed inspired in the Biblical sense; they prophesied and -condemned, as did Bilbao and Echeverria. - -Lastarria, Bilbao, Montalvo, Vigil, and Sarmiento were the leading -figures of this romantic period; {237} with them intellectual -activity was inseparable from politics. Lastarria and Bilbao opposed -the authoritarianism of Chili; Montalvo and Vigil respectively, the -clericalism of Ecuador and Peru; Sarmiento, the tyranny of Rosas. -Their works were pamphlets, their theories were always practical: -criticisms of contemporary reality, or constructive sketches of the -State of the future. - -Lastarria and Bilbao were the professors of liberalism in Chili. The -liberalism of the first was tempered by the influence of Comte, and -the study of philosophy and history; that of the second, -indisciplined and prophetic, was eventually the bitter protest of a -misunderstood evangelist. - -Lastarria was the great Chilian reformer, as Bello was the prudent -master who disciplined youth and defended tradition and the classic -ideology. He was, like Bilbao, a pupil of Bello's, but to the -conservative doctrines of the latter he opposed a generous -liberalism. He was professor of legislation at the National -Institute of Santiago from 1841, and from his professorial chair he -criticised Chilian laws and prejudices. At first he followed Bentham -in his lectures on constitutional law, and then the French liberals. -He was influenced by Herder, by Edgar Quinet, a jurist and a disciple -of Krause, and by Ahrens. Finally he accepted certain ideas of -Comte's--for instance, the theory of the Three Estates--and -endeavoured to reconcile his teaching with that of John Stuart Mill, -Toqueville, and Laboulaye. - -He believed, as did the romantics, in indefinite progress, liberty, -universal harmony, and the power of man as against the inevitability -of physical laws; in 1846 his political studies won the eulogy of -Edgar Quinet. From a liberal standpoint he studied the evolution of -Chili from the Conquest to the Republic. - -In the defence of his political faith the professor intervened in the -struggles of his country; academic {238} dissertations did not -satisfy him; he felt the need of action, of parliamentary agitation. -As deputy and publicist he opposed the influence of Portales, the -representative of the Chilian oligarchy, and the Constitution of -1833, that admirable piece of conservative legislation. "The State," -said Lastarria, "has for its object the respect of the rights of the -individual: there is the limit of its action." Portales, on the -other hand, considered a strong central authority, a stern tutelage, -to be a necessity in the South American republics, subject as they -were to crises of anarchy. Liberty seemed to him a premature gift -where the crowd was concerned. Lastarria opposed the positive work -of the dictator by a vague idealism: liberty of conscience, of work, -of association; an executive powerless to limit these liberties; -municipal government, federation--such were the fundamental items of -his propaganda. In the generality of American constitutions he -disapproved of the vague definition of individual rights, the -attributions of the public powers, the irresponsibility of these -latter, and the amalgamation of colonial political forms with the -administrative centralisation of the French _régime_. - -Two Presidents, Bulnes and Montt, from 1841 to 1861, continued the -despotic system founded by Portales; against them the liberal -professor commenced his magnificent campaign. He was exiled in 1850. -He travelled, and continued to publish his political writings. He -had studied Comte, Mill, and Toqueville, and he now completed his -education in certain directions. His next book, _Lessons in -Positivist Politics_ (1874), applied the principles of the Positivist -school to the evolution of South America and to Chilian history in -particular. He studied the organisation of the powers of the State, -of society, and government, and abandoned his former radicalism. He -recognised the fact that where Catholicism is the religion of the -majority (as in Chili) the State may {239} protect the national -Church while exercising the moderate supervision that is known as -"patronage." - -Lastarria influenced the destinies of Chili. At his death the -liberals came into power, and politicians like Santa-Maria and -Balmaceda, who supported liberal legislation, may be regarded as -disciples of the author of _Positivist Politics_. - -Lastarria was a politician, Bilbao an apocalyptic dreamer. He -founded the "Society of Equality," which was a democratic club. A -generous and radical nature, he criticised, in a celebrated article -on _Chilian Sociability_ (1844), "the tradition, the ancient -authority, the faith, the servile customs, the national apathy, the -dogma of blind obedience, the respect for the established order, the -hatred of innovation, and the persecution of the innovator," which he -deplored in his native country. He gave a pitiless analysis of -Chilian prejudices, and studied the national problems--commerce, -education, marriage, taxation, the functions of Church and State--and -answered them in a democratic sense. He was accused of immorality, -blasphemy, and sedition. He also attacked the Constitution of 1833, -and the minister Montt could not forgive him for this liberal -campaign. Ten years later Bilbao was exiled for his leanings toward -anarchy, and in Paris he became acquainted with Quinet and Lamennais, -the evangelists of his democratic faith. In 1880, on his return to -Chili, he resumed his inflammatory courses. - -Montalvo in Ecuador represented the same liberal effort as Bilbao and -Lastarria. But this democrat had read Montaigne and Voltaire; he was -a master of satire, irony, and sarcasm. His contradictory nature -united Lamartine's faith in democracy with the scepticism of the -eighteenth century. He was not a politician merely, but a man of -letters. His wide culture was revealed by the multiple forms in -which his intellectual activity found an outlet. As an {240} -essayist, by his lyrical disorder, he recalled Carlyle. His harsh -criticism of the national clergy in _La Mercurial Eclesiastica_ is as -lively as an Italian _conte_. He imitated Cervantes with perfection; -he could make a clever pastiche of _Don Quixote_. He knew his Byron, -Milton, Lamartine, Racine, and the Latin and Spanish classics, and -would have been the completest type of the humanist which the Latin -New World has produced had not his restless spirit yielded too -readily to the solicitations of politics. - -In contrast to Garcia-Moreno, the Catholic dictator, Montalvo was the -liberal free-lance; he could not forgive the _caudillo_ his long -tyranny, his intolerant faith, his submission to the Pope as a -supreme monarch. The Ecuadorian polemist believed in liberty and the -republic; he detested the theocracy implanted by the Christian -President. - -But his activities were not destructive; Montalvo was a believer in -the manner of the revolutionists of 1848. "A sane and pure democracy -has need of Jesus Christ," he wrote in his liberal enthusiasm; he -loved Christianity because it was the religion of the democracy. -Democracy would be the law of the nations "if some day the spirit of -the Gospel were to prevail." He eulogised the stoicism and virtue of -the Roman Republic, in the image of which he wished to construct the -Chilian democracy, and in a magnificent essay he exalted the nobility -of these qualities. He was not a radical like Bilbao; a forerunner -of pragmatism, he accepted all useful ideas, even Catholicism, so -that it did not become a political tyranny. "There is nothing to be -gained by attacking certain beliefs," he wrote, "which by virtue of -being general and useful to all will eventually become verities, even -if the curious and courageous investigation of bygone things could -constitute a motive for doubting them." - -An American thinker, he applied Latin ideas to {241} the affairs of -the continent. In his _Seven Treaties_, his capital work, are some -superb passages upon the heroes of South American emancipation. His -cult was that of Carlyle, religious and full of lyrical passion. "In -what is he inferior to the great men of antiquity?" he asks of -Bolivar. "Only in this, that no long centuries flow between us, for -only time, the great master, can distil in his magic laboratory the -chrism with which the princes of nature are anointed." He traces a -parallel between Bolivar and Napoleon, between Bolivar and -Washington. "In Napoleon there is something more than in other men; -a sense, a wheel in the mechanism of understanding, a fibre in the -heart. He looks across the world from the Apennines to the Pillars -of Hercules, from the pyramids of Egypt to the snows of Russia. -Kings tremble, pallid, and half-lifeless; thrones crack and crumble; -the nations look up and regard him and are afraid, and bend the knee -before the giant." Montalvo admires Napoleon, but he judges Bolivar -the superior, because the work of the former was destroyed by -mankind, while the work of the latter still prospers. "He who -realises great and lasting undertakings is greater than he who -realises only great and ephemeral things." - -Montalvo believed in the American race, in the mestizos, "in the -high, lofty spirit and the stout heart which make the aristocracy of -South America." His prophetic enthusiasm exalts the future -inhabitants of America, "who will be our descendants when the -traveller shall sadly seat himself to meditate upon the ruins of the -Louvre, the Vatican, or St. Paul's." To his work of criticism of -Garcia-Moreno and the clericals we must add this religious -Americanism, this tenacious faith in the destinies of the democracy. - -Without the lyric fervour of Montalvo, heavy and dusty as an ancient -palimpsest, Vigil represents the struggle of Peruvian liberalism -against the power of {242} the Church. Born in 1792, he was a -priest, and abandoned his calling, but without retaining, like Renan, -the unction of the seminarist. A stoic in his life, the champion of -liberty in several Congresses, he devoted his riper years to a long -campaign against ecclesiastical privilege. His admirable erudition -served him in this propaganda. He defended the State against the -encroachments of the clergy. An idealist, he preached universal -peace, the union of all American nations, and expounded the -excellencies of the democracy, in whose Christian virtues he, like -Montalvo, firmly believed. He won respect, as did Bilbao, by the -austerity of his life and the sincerity of his exhortations: a -Socratic master whose life was harmonious as a poem. - -An Argentine thinker, genial and tumultuous, Sarmiento represented a -liberalism less coherent than that of Echeverria, but as a champion -of the ideal and the intellectual life in the democracy tyrannised -over by Rosas he deserves to be placed beside Lastarria and Montalvo. -Menendez Pelayo called him the _gaucho_ of the Republic of Letters; -for his pugnacious individuality, his barbaric impetuosity, and his -semi-culture, which was mitigated by admirable intuition, were -inimical to all classic order or discipline. Sarmiento was a -romantic by temperament; he attacked Spanish culture in the name of -French liberalism, and condemned tradition, which led to slavery; he -believed in the virtuality of ideas, the mission of education, and -the greatness of democracy. He applied to the United States for -models of popular education, and for political examples of federal -life. He was a teacher, a journalist, a pamphleteer, and a President. - -He analysed Argentine life and the American revolutions; in 1845 he -published _El Facundo_, an evocation of the Argentine civil wars, -with all the passion and lyrical fervour of a Michelet. Sarmiento -{243} was the enemy of Rosas, as Montalvo was the eloquent rival of -Garcia-Moreno. In _El Facundo_ are pages of pitiless criticism of -the tyranny of the federal _caudillo_. Exiled, he founded a review -in Chili, in 1842, in which he still attacked Rosas, but he did not -confine himself to ephemeral journalism. He discovered eternal -elements in the battles of the time; he studied the American man and -the American soil, as in the prologue to _El Facundo_. He then -studied the racial problem, and in another book described the ideal -republic of which he dreamed. His work is profoundly American. - -American liberalism, between 1830 and 1860, was inspired by French -ideas. One revolution, that of 1789, explained in part the movement -for the conquest of political liberty. Another, that of 1848, found -echoes even in these distant democracies, and disturbed them by the -insinuating eloquence of a new gospel. A curious parallelism may be -observed between the claims of French socialism and American -radicalism. - -In France the Revolution of 1848 had not only a political tendency, -but also a social aspect. An extension of electoral capacity was -desired, and the right to work was proclaimed; men fought for the -sovereignty of the people, and workshops were founded in which the -State assured the subsistence of the working-classes. While the -republican parties were fighting against the monarchy of Louis -Philippe, Icarians and Communists were preparing for the social -revolution; the proletariat was rising against the _bourgeoisie_, as -the Third Estate rose against the nobility of old. A note of -equalitarian fervour was noticeable in the protest of the crowd. The -leaders of the movement against Guizot and his oligarchy of -property-owners were socialists: Louis Blanc, Pierre Leroux, Blanqui, -and Ledru-Rollin; they supplemented their democratic victories by a -programme of social reform. - -{244} - -In Latin America the Revolution was chiefly political; it demanded -the suffrage, equality before the law, and respect for political -rights, and it condemned the excesses of authority. It did not -forget to make a social protest, but the conflict of classes was not -as yet very violent. - -"The Revolution of 1848 was loudly echoed in Chili," wrote the -historian Vicuña-Mackenna. To combat the oligarchy the young -Lastarria brothers, Bilbao, the Amunategui, the three Mattas, the -three Blests, Santiago Arcos, and Diego Barros-Arana founded the -"Society of Equality," a secret club, "to save the people from the -shameful tutelage to which it has been subjected."[1] - -This tutelage was more especially political; for this reason the club -proclaimed democratic principles: the sovereignty of reason, the -sovereignty of the people, and universal love and brotherhood. These -young men opened schools for the people. Lillo published a -translation of _The Words of a Believer_, by Lamennais, which served -the radical circle for their Bible. - -But the real master of the new generation in Chili and in the other -democracies was Lamartine. "From 1848 to 1858 he was a demi-god, a -second Moses," wrote a historian. The "young men" formed a -commentary upon the _History of the Girondists_. They imitated the -great figures of the French Revolution: Bilbao was Vergniaud; -Santiago Arcos, Marat; Lastarria, Brissot. Societies were formed, -congresses were held; one exalted group called itself _The Mountain_. - -In Venezuela, in 1846, a demagogue by the name of Antonio Leocadio -Guzman offered the people the abolition of slavery and the -repartition of the soil; he led a revolution against society and the -Government. In Colombia the liberal Constitution of 1853 was an -{245} echo of the French Revolution of 1848, and democratic clubs -were formed as in Chili. They ruled the country by means of terror, -were predominant in the journals, and propagated socialism and hatred -of the oligarchy of property-owners and the omnipotent clergy. The -liberals evoked Christ as the first democrat, whence the faction -known as _Golgotha_. Anarchy increased in the provinces. Bishops -and conservative notabilities were pursued, the Jesuits were -expelled, and in 1851 the slaves were freed. A discontent of long -standing was revealed by the activities of these eloquent -revolutionaries, who imitated, like the Chilian Girondists, the -French politicians of the Revolution. - -"Democracy," Lamartine had said in 1848, "is, in principle, the -direct reign of God." His ideal was an equalitarian Republic. His -political ideas were drawn from the New Testament; he saw in the -French Revolution "a Divine and holy thought." Charity, the -protection of the disinherited, equality, and fraternity--in short -the whole democratic creed--was merely the application of Christian -ideas to the world of politics. Lamartine wrote in defence of all -the liberties, and wished the Government to be "an instrument of -God." We can understand what enthusiasm this eloquence, impregnated -as it was with idealism and the love of humanity, must have produced -in America; we find the accents of Lamartine echoed in the words of -Montalvo as well as Bilbao. Anarchy presently became a sort of -mystic rebellion against tyrants. Throughout all South America -Lamartine and the Revolution of 1848 inspired men's speech or -writings, and engendered revolutions or fresh tyrannies. - -The influence of France was sovereign. The influence of Guizot and -the doctrinaires must be added to that of Lamartine. English ideas -also were prevalent; Bentham was the great authority on {246} -political science from the earliest years of the Republic; at his -death the Central American Congress, which had followed his teaching, -proclaimed a period of mourning. In Colombia General Santander -quoted against Bolivar phrases inspired by English radicalism and by -Destutt de Tracy. Bentham harshly criticised the _Contrat Social_ of -Rousseau, and his pretended "natural rights"; policy he based upon -the happiness of the greatest number. Tracy professed a moderate -relativism, and utilitarian ideas, like Bentham. Bolivar, unlike -these professors of individualism, believed in the benefits of a -moral dictatorship. - -Bello again represented English thought, not only in his -philosophical work, but also in his writings as jurist. He was, like -the classic legislators, the creator of the written law. His civil -code, promulgated in Chili in 1855, served other nations as a model, -and his _Law of Nations_ became the international law of South -America. He was born into the world for the purpose of pouring -language as well as law into logical moulds. In his legislative work -he displayed a severe analysis, a British prudence, and a constant -recognition of social realities. He hated the vague and the -nebulous, and liked to express his ideas in clear, concrete formulæ; -he brought to the solution of social problems a solid common sense. - -Alberdi also adopted British methods and ideas. In France he -especially admired Guizot, and distrusted Lamartine. He attacked the -sterile intellectualism of his fellow-Americans, and wrote in defence -of Protestantism, a religion peculiarly appropriate to republics on a -Catholic continent. He believed in the English constitutional -monarchy, in the benefits of technical schools, and in the disastrous -effects of a parasitical scholarship; he preferred strong -governments, like that of Chili, and detested demagogues. "The -Republic," he wrote, "has been {247} and is still the bread of -Presidents, the trade of soldiers, the industry of lawyers without -causes, and journalists without talent; the refuge of the second-rate -of every species, and the machine for the amalgamation of all the -dross of society." Such was his verdict on the political system of -South America. - -He called for a monarchy as the only salvation of the country: "thus -the Republics might unite themselves to Europe, whence their riches -and their civilisation derive, and resist the monopoly of North -America." From European influence he hoped to obtain not only -culture, but also the consecration of political independence. He -begged the Old World for emigrants, for capital, and for princes. In -an admirable volume published in 1858 he analysed the "bases" of the -Argentine organisation. This book was no Latin gospel; with the -"relativity" of an Anglo-Saxon he proposed practical solutions; he -ascribed supremacy to population, strong governments, laborious -immigrants, and industrial wealth; he disdained the ideology of the -revolutionists, and their implacable Jacobinism. His effort may be -compared to that of Burke in his criticism of the French Revolution. -Amid the sterile enthusiasm of romantic politicians his book stands -out, in its gravity, sobriety, common sense, and realism, like a -lesson for all time. - -Other American conservatives were Lucas Alaman, leader of the Mexican -conservatives and author of a fine history of his country; Bartolome -Herrera, a follower of Guizot, in Peru; Cecilio Acosta, in Venezuela: -these were in agreement with Alberdi upon certain points of his ample -doctrine. Like the Argentine, Acosta wished to see more elementary -and secondary schools and fewer universities, to find "practical -knowledge replacing a parchment scholarship; free speech and thought -the fetters of the peripatetic school; and generalisation, -casuistry." The jurists obeyed the same tendency; they were {248} -positive and analytic spirits; they brought clarity and discipline to -an incoherent politics. Among them we may cite, after Bello, Calvo, -Garcia Calderon, Velez Sarsfield, and Ambrosio Montt. They opposed -the ineffectual Constitutions of the precisians. - -Liberal idealism vanquished conservative good sense. Lastarria -attracted impetuous youth more than Bello and Alberdi; Guizot had few -readers; Lamartine and Benjamin-Constant were popular. Liberalism, -radicalism, Jacobinism: these were the various disguises of South -American anarchy. - - -[1] Za piola, _La Sociedad de la Igualdad_, Santiago, 1902, p. 8. - - - - -{249} - -CHAPTER II - -THE LITERATURE OF THE YOUNG DEMOCRACIES - -Spanish classicism and French romanticism--Their influence in -America--Modernism--The work of Ruben Dario--The novel--The _conte_ -or short story - - -The ancient Spanish colonies, freed from the political authority of -Spain, still followed her in the matter of literature; republican -autonomy and intellectual subjection were not incompatible. Towards -1825 writers in prose and verse were by no means imitating France, -although she gave them her declamatory politics and her revolutionary -code. Educated in Spain, the best minds were seeking their -inspiration in the Spanish literature of the eighteenth century: the -works of the classic Quintana, of Moratin, Gallego, Lista, and -Jovellanos dominated the American schools. - -A lasting divorce, this of a romantic politics and a classic -literature. When letters were invaded by romanticism, with its lyric -lamentations, a sane realism--the realism of men preoccupied with -finances or laborious codifications--struggled against the swamping -waves of all this rhetoric. Literary forms, long out of fashion in -France and even in Spain, still aroused enthusiasm in America; the -American author adopted the realism of the naturalistic novel when -the French schools were already given over to symbolism, and at a -later date he became first {250} a modernist and then a decadent, -while in France a classic restoration had set in. To the real -current of European literature South America has preferred ephemeral -excesses, and the work of coteries, which she has imitated with -enthusiasm. It is barely ten years since South American letters -began to reflect--curiously behind the times--the direction taken by -French poetry. The literature of the new continent, to-day invaded -by books and ideas, follows a path parallel to that followed by -French and Spanish letters. Every novelty finds an echo, and the -very diversity of imitation ought before long to give rise to a final -originality. - -Poets, both romantic and classic, threw themselves into the social -conflicts of the time; whence that kinship between poetry and -eloquence, already recognised by Brunetière in France.[1] In -American poetry we find the civic accent, eulogies of liberty, odes -to civilisation and the mother-country, rather than elegies or -"states of soul." Tyrtæus would be popular there rather than -Anacreon; Béranger would be imitated rather than De Musset. -Classicism thus takes the form of a civic poetry; calm and mannered, -it sings of political subjects, of progress, independence, and the -victories of liberty over theocracy. - -In Mexico, Ecuador, and the Argentine, the first generation of -republican poets were incontestably disciples of the master of the -Spanish masters--Quintana, whose grave and virile odes exalted the -printing-press, philanthropy, and progress: new deities erected by -the French Revolution upon the ancient altars. His emphasis, the -movement of his verse, and the breath of oratory which enlivens his -stanzas, charmed and subjugated the writers oversea. Liberty, so -barely conquered, gave birth to a poetry {251} which sang of heroes -and of battles. Ideas and forms were inspired by Quintana; their -best eulogy is comparison with their model. Thus Olmedo, the second -poet of this classic age, is known as the American Quintana. - -Those who acclaimed the Revolution in Mexico also were disciples of -the Spanish poet; republican orators in verse, Quintana Roo or -Sanchez del Tagle, who describe the heroes of the War of -Independence. An eminent poetess, Salome Ureña de Henriquez, of San -Domingo, sang of civilisation and the native land with a most austere -and noble eloquence. - -A political poet again, Juan Cruz, of Argentina, gracefully -proclaimed the glory of the Unitarian party and that of the reformer -Rivadavia. - -The contemporary writers of the Revolution did not forget the -instruction received in Spain, in the universities of the eighteenth -century, where they studied in Latin and commented upon the classics -of Greece and Rome. They read and imitated Horace and Virgil, and -were inspired by the ancient democracies, and the heroes of Plutarch; -the Isthmus of Panama was compared to that of Corinth. At their -birth the Republics appointed consuls and triumvirs. In speeches and -proclamations of the time we find numerous classical reminiscences; -politicians and poets borrowed their images from Pindar, Horace, -Homer, and Virgil. - -The influence of the classics and of Quintana is especially to be -remarked in Olmedo, the poet of Ecuador, who chanted the victory of -Junin and the genius of Bolivar. The movement of his verses is that -of a Latin ode, while the eloquence, sonority, and graceful -progression of his stanzas recalls the Spanish classics. - -The Venezuelan lyrist Bello, a true humanist, was inspired by Virgil, -and attained a truly classic perfection. - -{252} - -But Quintana was not alone in serving as model to the lost colonies; -others, the fiery Gallego, and Moratin, the author of delightful -comedies; a critic, Alberto Lista; Melendez, Cienfugos, and Martinez -de la Rosa, cultivators of a correct, elegant, and frigid form, were -also imitated, and the imitators could not free themselves from their -impoverished classicism. Olmedo (1780) and Bello (1781) were both -masters of metre, taste, and harmony. It is not easy in their case -to separate the politician from the artist, they themselves -considering their art to be a high republican function; Olmedo -counsels federation in his _Canto à Junin_, and José Eusebio Caro -attacks the tyrant Lopez in a poem upon liberty, while Felipe Pardo -writes political satires. Of the American democracies he says: - - "Zar de tres tintas, indio, bianco y negro, - Que rige el continente americano - Y que se llama Pueblo Soberano."[2] - -Towards 1840 classicism gave way to romanticism. The Revolution, the -protest of individualism against the Spanish rule, disdained the old -literary canons, having first condemned the old political system. -The poets, still numerous, sought models in Spain. Arolas, -Espronceda; Zorilla, the Duke de Rivas; and in France, Victor Hugo, -de Musset, and Lamartine. Byron, too, had his disciples. All were -romantic in life and work, pilgrims _à la_ Childe Harold, who -described _Châtiments_ and were persecuted for liberty. Disorderly, -imperfect, dominated by an inward dæmon who produced a continual -exaltation, they portrayed the constant restlessness of their -spirits. {253} Romanticism in Europe was the triumph of the -individual, of liberty, the lyrical poetry of confessions--the -melancholy of René or the satanic pride of Manfred--the revenge, in -short, of sentiment against reason. In art this stood for liberty, -the cult of the exotic, the return to nature, the Gothic restoration, -and war upon classic conventions. - -Which among these elements could give the new generation in South -America that enthusiasm which might evoke a romantic state of mind? -Certainly not the national antiquities, remote and misunderstood. -Although a few poets wrote _Orientales_ without much sincerity, none -sought to renew his lyrical gifts in the Aztec or Quechua traditions. -But this imitation of the tendencies of French and Spanish letters -was assisted by the lack of discipline found in the American -character, which was more attracted by idealism and sentiment than by -classic rigidity or reason. All things favoured romanticism; the -political conflicts and the anarchy of the time formed Byronic -heroes; tropical passion found its food in the sentimentalism of -Lamartine and the ardour of De Musset, while the individual was -developed by struggling against the tyrants. In the uncertain and -barbaric life of these young democracies there was a confusion of -_rôles_; the poet became the _vates_, the leader of the crowd, only -to feel himself exiled among mediocrities, the victim of illiterates. -Melancholy, exasperated individualism, the high mission of the poet, -and solitude--these are romantic elements which are reflected in -American literature. - -The Colombian Caro believed in the "consoling mission" of the poet, -and this mission, for the Argentine Andrade, was a priesthood and a -prophetic gift. The poet appears "when the human caravan changes its -route in the desert." But as a result of this mission Nemesis -inflicts solitude and suffering. {254} The South American poets -abandon the world as a result of their despair:-- - - "Sufrirás el martirio - Que al nació poeta - Reserva el hado impío,"[3] - -sings the Argentine Echeverria. - -And Marmol:-- - - "Yo vivo solamente cuando feliz deliro - Que los terrenos lazos mi corazón rompió. - . . . . . - Venid porque yo gozo yo vivo solamente - Si pienso que he dejado la humanidad detras."[4] - - -The Peruvian Salaverry contemplates his heart:-- - - "Cual la ruina de un templo silencioso - Vacío, abandonado, pavoroso, - Sin luz y sin rumor."[5] - - -José Eusebio Caro, who has sung of liberty in admirable strophe, -would hide himself in the forest:-- - - "Que los hombres ya me niegan - Una tumba en sus ciudades - En mi patria me expulsaron - De la casa de mis padres."[6] - - -These romantics were not, like Rousseau, inclined toward the simple -life by an excess of artificial civilisation. Their melancholy, when -it is not an echo of exotic griefs, is the cry of anguish of a noble -mind lost in a barbarous republic. This contrast between the man and -his surroundings very clearly explains the strong hold obtained by -the {255} romantic ideal; the literature of passion, pride, and -revolt, it expresses a social condition of inner conflict and -solitude. - -The Argentine, Marmol, imitates Byron in his _Pilgrim_. -Grandiloquent, passionate, and mournful, he curses the tyranny of -Rosas. Echeverria, under a classic mantle, barely hides his romantic -subjectivity, full of passion and a vague melancholy. In Venezuela -Heriberto Garcia de Quevedo left a legacy of prodigiously long poems. - -In Cuba Gertrudis Gomez de Avellanada, wearied and lyrical, exalted -love in the accents of De Musset; the mulatto Placido wrote musical -descriptive verse; Juan Clemente Zenea, translator of Leopardi and -Longfellow, confessed, in musical elegiac verse, his disabused -outlook upon life; and greater than any, Hérédia, the singer of -Niagara, a fiery, suffering spirit, full of contrasts as his art, -tells us of his sorrow and his faith; he sings of love and nature in -beautiful imagery, admiring both the divine might and the -intoxicating sensuality of the tropics. - -In Mexico Espronceda and Lamartine inspired Fernando Calderon and -Ignacio Rodriguez Galvan; Zorilla found a disciple in Manuel Flores, -the poet of burning sensuality and savage nature. Brazil, as -fruitful of romantics as Cuba, produced Gongalvez Diaz, who sang of -the melancholy and nostalgia so well expressed by a word in his own -tongue--_saudades_;--of sorrow, deliverance by knowledge, and the -consolation of tears:-- - - "Men Deus, senhor men Deus, o que ha no mundo - Que não seja soffrir? - O homen nasce, e vive um so instante - E soffre até morrir!"[7] - -{256} - -In his love poetry there is a very, beautiful sincerity, although we -may recognise the influence of many masters--Byron, Zorilla, and the -French romantics. Cited by him, this line of Saint-Beuve's:-- - - "Mon Dieu, fais que je puisse aimer!"[8] - -enables us to understand his plaints. - -Casimiro de Abrou also essayed romantic subjects: solitude, misery, -and exile. Alvares de Azevedo imitated Byron and De Musset, while a -poet who did not versify, José de Alencar, expounded in his tales and -novels a romantic conception of the Indian, simple and virtuous as -one of Rousseau's characters. - -We find this conception again in the work of a great poet of Uruguay, -Zorilla de San Martin, who in _Tabaré_ sang the struggles of the -greedy conquerors and the ingenuous Americans. - -Romanticism was not with these men merely a matter of art; their -lives were no less troublous and lyrical than their poetry. Rebels -and nomads, thirsting for democratic liberty, they were wasted in the -struggle with tyrants, or sent early to the scaffold or into exile, -as though fate respected the unity of their troubled career. Thus -these disciples of Lamartine, imaginative and sensual, vehement and -melancholy in their art, gave a sombre yet vivid colouring to a -period of American history, the years between 1840 and 1860. - -Andrade was conspicuous among all for his sonorous eloquence; he was -the greatest by virtue of the oratory, wealth, and ambitious grandeur -of his poems, vast compositions which recall the _Légende des -siècles_, the _Prometheus_ of Shelley, or the _Ahasuerus_ of Edgar -Quinet. Doubtless he is not the equal of his masters. But devoid of -melancholy and restless passion, his rhetoric, his verbal wealth, and -his {257} sybilline accents exercised a powerful influence. -Repeating the grandiloquent excesses of Hugo, he was the poet of -democracy and the Latin race. - -His _Atlantide_ is the Latin future; _Prometheus_ the eternal battle -of thought and fanaticism. He is full of Spanish arrogance. -Marvellously sonorous, his stanzas proclaim, with pomp and majesty, a -romantic faith in America and liberty. The soul of Rome "destined to -inaugurate history and embrace space," lives again beyond the ocean; -Spain was the heir at first, until she choked beneath the "enervating -shadow of the Papacy." France, - - "Montana en cuya cumbre - Anida el genio humano,"[9] - -was now the leading Latin nation, and Napoleon the instrument of the -ancient imperial spirit. His sword - - "Que sobre el mapa de la Europa absorta - Trazó fronteras, suprimió desiertos - Y que quizás de recibir cansada - El homenaje de los reyes vivos, - Fuá á demandar en el confin remote, - El homenaje de los reyos muertos."[10] - - -Andrade believed in the sacred _rôle_ of the poet: Hugo, his admired -master, - - "La voz de trueno del gran profeto hebreo - La cuerda de agrios tonos - De Juvenal - Y el rumor de los cantos - Del viejo Gibelino,"[11] - -{258} seemed to him prophet and forerunner, martyr and exile. The -poet, seer, and leader of men, is thus - - "Hermano de las águilas del Cáucaso - Que secaron piadosas con sus alas - La ensangrentada faz de Prometeo."[12] - - -Lyric scholars in these troublous republics, the romantics sought to -ennoble politics by a generous idealism, to overthrow the tyrants, -and realise an impossible democracy. - -French naturalism and the Parnassian school had little influence in -Latin America. Although Zola enjoyed a strange popularity--which -corresponds, in the literary world, to the enthusiasm of the -Trans-atlantic universities for materialism and positivism--we meet -with few imitations of _Germinal_ or _La Terre_. The American -writers have not assimilated the naturalistic methods, their brutal -and minute observation, their study of the crowd, and their -intentional pessimism; they have hardly read the masters of the -realistic school, Balzac and Flaubert. Only during the last twenty -years have Maupassant, the Portuguese novelist Eça de Queiros, -d'Annunzio, and the great Russian writers interested and disturbed -the American reader. The love of the novel is but gradually -dislodging the old lyric enthusiasm. - -[Illustration: CLÉMENTE PALMA. Peruvian essayist and novelist. -RICARDO PALMER.] - -The Parnassian movement, in America, produced the Argentine poet -Leopoldo Diaz. He adapted to Spanish verse the sonority, the relief, -and the plastic beauty of the French masters. One of his poems is -dedicated in homage to the poet of the _Sonnets_, to his incomparable -model, José-Maria de Hérédia. Diaz sought to give his native -Spanish, the language of eloquence, a Parnassian inevitability, and -to mould its rhetorical abundance to the narrow limits of the sonnet. -_Les sombras de Hellas_ invokes the Greek {259} life, sensual and -luminous; _Les conquistadores_ the thunderous epic; and all his -optimistic songs speak of a Latin renaissance in the overseas -democracies. - -An absorbing taste for symbolism and the decadents, for -"deliquescent" poetry and the work of the small Parisian cliques, has -produced an intensely vital intellectual movement--modernism--which, -by its wealth of language and ideas and the renewed vitality of its -language, signifies a true renaissance. Beside it the old classic -and romantic movements seem lukewarm imitations which pale before the -exuberance of more modern work. - -Modernism is undoubtedly an adequate diet for Transatlantic Latins. -But is this decadent renaissance better inspired than the passion and -the eloquence of yesterday? Is it also an indication of servitude? -By no means; the great poets have retained a robust belief in life, -and their master, Ruben Dario, followed his _Prosas profanas_ by his -_Songs of life and hope_. - -The younger generation was drawn to this art by purely psychological -motives. The Spanish character had become refined by its new -environment; weakened, perhaps, but it had gained a keener -intelligence and a greater wealth of fantasy. Chiaroscuro and subtle -shades, such as the French delight in, delighted the Creole also, -partial as he was to _finesse_, to a delicate Byzantism, and -gracefully sceptical of the robust Spanish faith. Then there were -hosts of half-castes, in whom the inimical heredities of two races -were in painful conflict. The strangest characteristics--the -sensuality of the negro and the melancholy of the Indian--gave the -new race a spiritual personality full of contradictory -characteristics; melancholy but not without optimism; the desires of -a faun or a satyr, violent or languid; and a love of the rare and -unusual, of verbal music, of complication in the matter of feeling, -of {260} carefully chosen language and unfamiliar rhythms. Reading -Verlaine, Samain, Laforgue, Moréas, Henri de Régnier, and not as yet -forgetting Gautier and Banville; mingling all cults and asking -intoxication from every flagon, the poets of America have struck the -national chord. Symbolism has been of little assistance; it calls -for a lofty conception of the world and a profound sense of mystery. -They much prefer decadence in art, because of its musical lyric -quality, its exotic images, and its melancholy rhythms. An elective -affinity, to use Goethe's phrase, has enabled them to draw an -individual music from the foreign instrument. - -So new metres and old fashions refurbished, modern images in sonorous -and tortuous measures, all that in Europe was the voice of ennui, the -tardy fruit of a world grown old, a Baudelairian art, the art of -refined scepticism, was made to serve a young generation in love with -life for the expression of its ambitions. This reform has reached -Spain; the initiate has captivated the initiator, as in the drama of -Renan. The recent voices of Spanish poetry follow that of the -pontiff of the new school, Ruben Dario. Similarly Brazil has -influenced Portuguese poetry, and, according to Theophilo Braga, -surpasses it. - -German and French romanticism revived the old forgotten _chansons de -geste_, the despised poetry of the Gothic school; they charmed by the -rude naturalism of the primitive legends. Similarly the modernists -of America have renewed Spanish literature by listening to the -ingenuous voice of Berceo and the more melancholy accents of -Manrique. The result is that they are more traditionalist than the -classic writers of the seventeenth century, whose intolerance so -impoverished the language. - -This renaissance is of barely twenty years' date. Certain -forerunners--Marti and Julien del Casal, both Cubans, one a -revolutionary in politics as in poetry, {261} the other a man of -tragic life, and Gutierrez Najera in Mexico--revealed the new poetic -speech to a continent weary of sentimentalism. New or unfamiliar -rhythms and agile metres were the vehicle of a new and intimate -lyrical passion. But the note was not as yet decadent: Banville and -Gautier, and De Musset, even, had not yet given way to Verlaine, who -was as unknown as Mallarmé. A Venezuelan critic, Pedro Emilio Coll, -drew attention to the persistent cult among the "American decadents," -of the great Theodore, and of the author of _Funambulesques_. In the -_Azul_ of Ruben Dario he noted the influence of Mendès and Loti, even -that of Daudet and the realists of his school, rather than the -influence of symbolism.[13] - -By the vivacity and brilliance of his verse, Manuel Guttierrez Nájera -reminds one of Banville. He sings in a new key, at once Creole and -exotic, the complicated sensations which are presently to torment -Ruben Dario. Spanish verse had never yet held such grace and spirit, -nor this sensuality appeased by tears, nor this proud and reserved -melancholy. _A Cecilia_, _Vidas Muertas_, _Castigadas_, -_Mariposas_--these contained a new lyric poetry, elegiac and tender, -an unknown rhythm, a forgotten manner. He was a forerunner. Who -does not know his lines upon the spoiled child whom he loves? - - "No hay en el mundo mujer mas linda! - Pié de Andaluza, boca de guinda, - _Esprit_ rociado de Veuve Cliquot, - Talle de avispa, cutis de ala, - Ojos traviesos de colegiala, - Como los ojos de Louise Théo."[14] - -{262} He is not always so frivolous. Mystery torments him; he knows -the bitterness of vanished illusions; a pessimist, he has a vision of -the moths of death "which have such black wings, and encircle us in a -funereal round." The monologue of the unbeliever is a lament like -that of Sigismond de Calderon upon the vanity of life:-- - - "Si es castigo ¿ cual pecado, - Sin saberlo, cometimos? - Si premio ¿ porque ganado? - Sin haberlo demandado, - Responded ¿ porqué vivimos?"[15] - - -Poems and chronicles are filled with a like restlessness and trouble. -He writes Odes worthy of an anthology; he translates De Musset and -Coppee. His master is Gautier: he shares his love of the light; he -sings, in love with ideal whiteness:-- - - "¿ Qué cosa más blanca que cándido lirio? - ¿ Qué cosa más pura que místico cirio? - ¿ Que cosa mas casta que tierno azahar?"[16] - - -The modernism of South America was inspired firstly by the Parnassian -school of France, which did not until later give place to the new -voice, symbolist or decadent. Verlaine, Samain, and Laforgue were -then the chief models; but beneath the current of imitation a -movement was forming which was more and more original, a great school -of verse, the leading note of which was refinement. "We owe to -foreign literatures, and more particularly to the French," says a -writer already cited, "the refinement of the organs necessary to the -interpretation of beauty; we owe to them our methods of observation -{263} and our love of impressions, rather than any kind of -co-ordinated æsthetic perspective.... Our eyes have learned from -them to see better, and our minds to gather fugitive sensations." - -No writer represents this evolution, this progressive refinement, -better than Ruben Dario, a poet of Central America (of Nicaragua), -the recognised master of the new school and one of the greatest lyric -writers of all time in the Spanish language. He is to America what -Verlaine and Hugo are to France. His images, his phrases even, -excite a servile imitation. A noble band of disciples aspires to -continue his immortal work. He denies his disciples: "He who shall -slavishly follow my track will lose his treasure, and, whether page -or slave, will not be able to hide his livery." But in vain: ardent -youth listens and lays its votive offerings at the feet of the great -and disdainful artist. - -His poetic reform was effectual in the extreme. He renewed the youth -of archaic metres, adapted French rhythms to Spanish verse, and -modified, with perfect taste, the classic division of the line of -verse--the place of the cæsura. With equal mastery he has employed -slow and majestic measures to interpret the melancholy of the flesh, -or the dancing metres of Banville, or plastic forms of a Hellenic -perfection. He seems to make his own the cry of Carducci: _Odio -l'usata poesia_. - -Modern Spanish poetry used often to employ verses of eight and eleven -syllables, forms to which a certain rhetorical pomp very readily -allies itself. An interpreter of new ideas, Dario would not, like -the French poet, accept old forms; he employed lines of ten and -twelve syllables, adopted the pentameter and hexameter of the -classics, and employed verses of fourteen and sixteen syllables.[17] -He displaced accents, {264} and wrote admirable _vers libres_. A -revolutionary, in ten years he had transformed Spanish poetry. - -_Prosas Profanas_, published in 1900, is, according to the phrase of -his incomparable critic, José Enrique Rodo, "the full tension of his -poet's bow." From the paradoxical title to the wealth of metre, all -is strange in this delicate piece of work, which opens a new literary -cycle, as did _Emaux et Camées_ or _Fleurs du mal_ in France. The -originality of the book comes from the poet's prodigious faculty of -recognising in each school what is essential to him, and in -appropriating it, without, therefore, ceasing to be personal. A -lyric unrest carries him to one manner or another, but, archaic or -modern, it becomes his own. His grace, suppleness, and learned -complexity are unequalled; he will write a Symphony in _Gris Majeur_ -like Gautier, or poems in the manner of Verlaine, or a _Chant an -Centaure_ in the manner of Maurice de Guerin. His work is not built -of imposing granite, but of many coloured marbles, with strange and -decadent shades, such as the chiseller of the _Camées_ loved. - -[Illustration: RUFINO BLANCO FOMBONA (VENEZUELA). Contemporary poet, -novelist, and thinker. To face p. 264.] - -His verse possesses at once the sensuality of a faun, the distinction -of a marquis of the _Grand Siècle_, and the disenchantment of a -mystic. No form, no period can arrest his wandering spirit:-- - - "Yo persigo una forma que no encuentra mi estilo, - Boton de pensamiento que busca ser la rosa."[18] - -In the presence of love, art, and life he experiences an enthusiasm -which quickly vanishes; he discovers the final melancholy of all -things. He knows, with the Roman, the sadness that lurks in human -joys: _quod in ipsis floribus angit_. - -But before singing his autumnal bitterness of heart {265} he sings of -nature, of ancient civilisations, of the art of all ages, and of the -pageantry of life. - -Dario is the leader of a school, but other poets, as great as he, may -be regarded as the precursors of literary "modernism": José Asunción -Silva, Leopoldo Lugones, Guillermo Valencia, Rufino Blanco -Fombana--the latter, like Almafuerte, Chocano, and the Lugones of the -"Hills of Gold," seeks to be the poet of the new America. These -writers aim at an American art, an art free from rhetorical -_clichés_, innocent of imitation, of declamation, of affected -sensibility. Who shall say whether the revolt of this younger -generation will lead it? Angel de Estrada is the poet of the exotic -in his _Alma nomade_; Guillermo Valencia, as great as Dario in the -exegesis of the legends of Greece and the love of things Hellenic, -has a universal curiosity and an astonishingly versatile lyrical -capacity. Rufino Blanco Fombana has sung of sensual passion, the -hatred of tyrants, and the glories of Bolivar; he has remodelled the -lyric, has written verses as finely chiselled as the gems of the -Greek anthology, and sonorous lines in which we hear a call to action -and to victory. Chocano aspires to become the poet of America: -grandiloquent, sonorous, rich in imagery. Lugones is a much admired -author of sentimental verse, audacious as to form and vocabulary. -José Asuncion Silva was noted for his melancholy, languorous verse: -he was a forerunner, a master, like Dario. Ricardo Jaimes Freire -employs the more audacious metres; Amado Nervo, equally radical in -his love of new forms, exhibits a modernism touched by a breath of -Buddhistic pantheism, and sings of "Sister Water" like a modern St. -Francis. - -Essayists of the English type are numerous in America. They import -European ideas, freely discuss the great problems of existence. If -they apply themselves to the criticism of letters, they discover -{266} general ideas; in place of minute analysis they write artistic -commentaries. José Enrique Rodo, of Uruguay, is the master in this -department of literature. He has published an essay on Dario, and -his two books, _Motivos de proteo_, a collection of essays of great -beauty, and _Ariel_, a noble address to the youth of South America, -have become classics. There are other critics as brilliant: Manuel -Ugarte, at once thinker and artist, writer of short stories, poet, -ideologist, and the author of a remarkable book dealing with the -future of South America; the Colombian, Sanin Cano, who treats of -ideas; two Argentines, Emilio Becher, who writes admirable analyses -of ideas and books, and Ricardo Rosas, who is, by reason of his -nationalism and his wide culture, the master of the rising -generation; two Venezuelans, Manuel Diaz Rodriguez and Pedro Emilio -Coll, the first a noble idealist and prose artist, the second a -dreamer, who has been influenced by the sceptical irony of Renan; the -Peruvian, Manuel Gonzala Prada, whose aggressive and sonorous style -reveals a lofty moral unrest: in his essay on life and death are -pages which Guyau might have signed, and his study of Castelar is a -magnificent satire; José de la Riva Agüero, a historian, a critic, -and a polemist of unusual vigour; in San Domingo a powerful mind with -an extraordinary knowledge of literatures, classic and foreign, Pedro -Henriquez Ureña; while in Uruguay, Carlos Reyles has just proved by -his book, _La Mort da Cygne_, his acquaintance with all the new ideas -and his ability to make a powerful synthesis of them. Two Brazilian -essayists, Oliveira Lima (also a great historian) and José Verissimo -have written remarkable studies of civilisations and books. - -[Illustration: MANUEL UGARTE (ARGENTINA). Contemporary poet, -novelist, and essayist. To face p. 266.] - -The short story, neglected by the romantics, is being revived. -Modernism, having already transformed poetry, has brought to the -_conte_ a subtlety {267} in the analysis of the passions and a -knowledge of psychology that refuses to take alarm at problems of -morbid obscurity, and the indispensable quality of concentration of -interest. Machado de Assis is a master of powerful analysis, and a -sober and ironical style; his vision of life is melancholy. Diaz -Rodriguez has written some superb short stories. An evocation or a -symbol places those of Carlos Reyles of Uruguay on a plane far above -that of the ordinary romance. Two other writers of the younger -generation, Attilio Chiappori and Clemente Palma, hailing -respectively from Argentine and Peru, have introduced a new æsthetics -into the short story; the latter seems to show the influence of -Hoffmann and Poe, but his examples of the _macabre_ are none the less -powerfully original; while Chiappori, a physician and alienist, loves -the states of twilight phases of a mind which is tottering on the -verge of reason. _Borderland_ tells us of this vague territory in a -sinuous, and, in America, hitherto unfamiliar style. - -A great Peruvian writer, Ricardo Palma, has created a department of -literature, that of tradition, which partakes equally of the nature -of history, and the romance, and the _conte_. He has described in a -sumptuous style the life of the old Spanish colonies, devout and -sensual; the traditions of a cultivated community, the city of Lima. -His subtle irony, his joyous and somewhat licentious narrative, often -remind us of M. Anatole France and the Italian story-tellers. - -In Latin America are published not only exquisite examples of the -_conte_, but also novels in which the study of society and the -analysis of the mind are not overlooked. Among others may be cited -_El Hombre de Hierro_, by Rufino Blanco Fombona, a Venezuelan; -_Canaan_, by the Brazilian, Graça Aranha; _La Gloria de don Ramiro_ -and _Redención_, {268} by the Argentine writers Enrique Rodriguez -Larreta and Angel de Estrada; _Idolos Rotos_ and _Sangre Patricia_, -by Diaz Rodriguez, whose high talent as a writer of short stories we -have already praised; _La Raza de Cain_, by Carlos Reyles, so -remarkable, also, for his essays and his tales. - -Blanco Fombona possesses irony, the gift of telling a story, a rich -descriptive talent, ease of dialogue, and a power of forcible -scene-painting. A novelist by temperament, he has written the -biography of a representative Creole, the lamentable type created by -environment, for whom love and life reserve their most terrible -cruelties. A scrupulous employé, neither strong nor cunning, he is -the product of the languorous tropical life; this "man of iron" is -the symbol of all the weaknesses. And about this life is all the -monotony of a small city, civil war, the secret hatred of Creoles and -foreigners, the superannuated grace of the Spanish manner and the -Spanish pomp--in short, the whole of a little seething world. - -_Canaan_ is the romance of the promised land, of fertile Brazil, -where the blonde immigrant and the half-breeds of every shade compete -for the bounty of a prodigal Nature. This long struggle is the -dramatic interest of the book; its beauty lies in its magnificent -descriptions of the tropics; the language of Graça Aranha is full of -harmonious poetry. Angel de Estrada is one of the most cultivated -spirits of America. Traveller (is not one of his books entitled _Ame -Nomade_?), novelist, and poet, he distils in his books the -quintessence of long meditation and infinite reading. His novel -_Redención_ is the work of a humanist; civilisations, arts, beliefs, -all pass before us, evoked by the hand of a master. A subtle and -rich vocabulary serves him to give life to his ideas and resuscitate -the life of dead cities. - -[Illustration: RICARDO ROJAS (ARGENTINA). Contemporary poet and -essayist. To face p. 268.] - -{269} - -Enrique Rodriguez Larreta has described in his novel _La Gloria de -don Ramiro_ the period of Philip II., bloody, austere, and -tyrannical. No American artist has his verbal wealth, his power of -evocation, and his meticulous scholarship and genius for -reconstruction. This patient and harmonious piece of work surprises -us in a literature full of improvisations like that of South America. - -_La Raza de Cain_, by Reyles, is a remarkable romance, in which the -author shows us the superman, Nietzsche's man of prey, at grips with -the weak and the vanquished; he exalts, in language full of -eloquence, the Dionysiac joy of life and domination. - -Writer of short stories, a novelist at times, but above all a -brilliant chronicler, Gomez Carrillo has had the greatest influence -in Latin America. In a nervous, harmonious style, full of delicate -shades, he has instructed the younger generation in symbolism, in the -elegant paradoxes of Wilde, in the work of D'Annunzio and Verlaine; -in short, in the whole of decadent art. Above all, he eulogises -Paris: the "charming soul" of the city, the sounding boulevards, its -women, and the _galante_ frivolity of its unrest. A master of smiles -and subtle irony, he has the taste, the delicate amenity, of Scholl -or Fouquier, the art of telling an anecdote, of analysing a comedy, -of pouring gentle ridicule upon learned heaviness or conceited -solemnity. His books on Japan and Greece, praised by the French -critics, have revealed the mystery of exoticism to the American -public, and all his work breathes a continual suggestion of France. - -Such is the new literature, in which you will find novelists and -poets and a truly Florentine love of beauty. He who knows America -only by its imperfect social framework, its civil wars, and its -persistent barbarism sees only the outer tumult; there is a strange -divorce between its turbulent politics {270} and its refined art. If -ever Taine's theory of the inevitable correspondence between art and -its environment was at fault, it is in respect of these turbulent -democracies which produce writers whose literary style is so -precious, such refined poets and analysts. - -[Illustration: GOMEZ CARRILLO. Contemporary novelist, essayist, and -chroniqueur.] - - -[1] _L'Evolution de la poésie lyrique en France au XIXe siécle_, -Paris, 1899, p. 134. - -[2] "Tzar of three colours, black, white, and Indian (red)--who -governs the American continent--and is called the Sovereign People." - -[3] "Thou shalt suffer the martyrdom--that for him who is born a -poet--is reserved by impious fate." - -[4] "I live only when I dream--that my heart has broken all ties with -the world-- ... Come, for my life and my joy hardly begin to be--save -when I know I have left mankind far behind me." - -[5] "Like the ruins of a silent temple,--empty, abandoned, -fearful,--without light and without sound." - -[6] "Men refuse me a tomb in their cities,--in my country I was -expelled from the house of my fathers." - -[7] "My God, Lord my God, who is there in the world--that is not -sorrow's?--Man is born and lives a moment--and suffers unto death." - -[8] "My God, make me able to love!" - -[9] "Mountain on whose summit--human genius nests." - -[10] "Which on the map of astonished Europe--traced frontiers and -suppressed deserts,--and which, weary perhaps with receiving--the -homage of living kings,--came at length to demand afar--the homage of -dead kings." - -[11] "The voice of thunder of the great Hebrew prophet,--the chord of -bitter tones--of Juvenal--and the rumour of the songs--of the old -Ghibelline." - -[12] "Brother to the eagles of the Caucasus--who fanned piously with -their wings the bleeding face of Prometheus." - -[13] _Decadentismo y americanismo_, in _El castillo de Elsinor_. -Caracas 1902. - -[14] "There is not in the world a prettier woman!--Foot of an -Andalusian, mouth of fruit--Sparkling wit of Veuve Cliquot--Waist of -wasp, skin like a bird's wing--The roguish eyes of a schoolgirl--Such -the eyes of Louise Theo." - -[15] "If it is a punishment, what sin--have we without knowing -committed?--If it is a reward, how gained?--Without having asked -it,--say, why do we live?" - -[16] "What whiter than the candid lily?--What purer than the mystic -wax?--What more chaste than the tender orange-blossom?" - -[17] See the study of these innovations in _Horas de estudio_, by P. -Henriquez Ureña, p. 118 _et seq_. Paris, Ollendorff. - -[18] "I pursue a form which my pen does not find--the bud of an idea -which would be the rose." - - - - -{271} - -CHAPTER III - -THE EVOLUTION OF PHILOSOPHY - -Bello--Hostos--The influence of England--Positivism--The influence of -Spencer and Fouillée--The sociologists. - - -The democracies of America have not created new systems of -philosophy; they have rather contributed, with Emerson and William -James in the United States, to propound the old problems in a new -light. Politics and history have been the occupation of intelligent -men. To pure speculation they have preferred the patient study of -the past, and the impassioned analysis of the conflicts of the day. - -Yet they adopted European theories from the earliest years of the -Republic: those of the French ideologists, Cabanis and Laromiguière -were the predominant influences in some schools, while the influence -of England extended from Central America to Chili. With that -influence went a moderate utilitarianism, a bold analysis of the -doctrines of political and economic liberty. England contributed to -the liberty of America in Montevideo as in Colombia; with the English -gold which the revolutionaries received the English philosophic -radicalism entered the country. Jurists and politicians profited by -its lessons, and certain of the thinkers of America freed themselves -from the shackles of the peripatetic school under the influence of -the Scottish philosophers. Thus Ventura Martin and José-Joaquin de -Mora in Chili and Alcorta in the Argentine. With {272} Andrès Bello, -poet and legislator, philosopher and philologist, these doctrines -acquired a great importance. His _Philosophy of the Understanding_ -was inspired by Reid and Hamilton. In England he had known James -Mill, and some of his ideas upon the inductive method and causality -recall the doctrines of John Stuart Mill, the son of James. Bello -was especially noted for the vigour of his logic and his analysis of -the phenomena of consciousness, his penetrating psychology, and his -positivism, which caused him to disdain anything in the nature of -metaphysics. His conservative spirit accepted the Catholic dogmas, -while his critical faculty was checked by them; what his implacable -analysis destroyed his religious temperament reconstructed. He -believed in perception, liberty, and the reality of the external -world, and in a first cause; he transformed grammar by his -psychological analysis, and by his positivism civil law and the law -of nations. His excessive critical faculty sometimes ran to -super-fine abstraction, to an intellectual algebra. Bello passed -from ideology to positivism, from Destutt de Tracy to Stuart; Mill, -by way of the Scottish philosophers. His admirable grammatical and -juridical efforts may be attributed to his mastery of English -analysis and realism. - -After Bello, the most remarkable of South American philosophers was -Eugenio de Hostos, who was born in 1839. He did not merely expound -European ideas; he had his own system, which he developed in a series -of remarkable works; he was a moralist rather than a metaphysician, -and whether in San Domingo or Lima or Santiago he never ceased his -endeavours to reform education and the law. Problems, social and -moral, gave him no rest; he sought to found a new morality and -sociology. - -Hostos might be called an optimistic rationalist. He believed in an -ideal world. Science, according {273} to him, is an efficacious -agent of virtue. He thought it possible to discipline the will by -teaching what is true. Good is not a metaphysical entity nor duty an -imperative; the two together constitute a "natural order." A -profound harmony exists between man and the world he lives in, and -the moral law is merely the revelation in the consciousness of the -geometry of things. For Hostos the world was just, logical, and full -of reason; an internal law, _lex insita_, was manifested in the -sidereal harmonies as in virtuous actions. - -The moral ideal is therefore merely the adaptation of conduct to the -inevitable and harmonious relations of things. Does not this -optimism recall the morality of Spencer, the rigorous ethics of -Spinoza, and the thought of Cournot, that "the philosophical basis of -morality is the idea of conformity to the universal order"? - -The founders of the Republic were formed by scholasticism. In the -old universities men debated in language bristling with syllogisms. -A free philosophic doctrine which accepted all the Catholic -verities--immortality, free will, and Providence--and explained them -with a fiery eloquence, was the reaction against this school, whose -thought was crystallised in variable forms; this philosophy -corresponded to the romanticism of the politicians, to their faith in -democracy, liberty, and human progress. - -In Spanish America French ideas predominated; in Brazil, German -thought. Tobias Barreto and Sylvio Romero propagated this culture in -the place of a colourless eclecticism; the first was a disciple of -the German philosophers, the second popularised Spencer, without -neglecting the Germans. In his German studies Barreto adopted the -monism of Ludwig Noiré: "The universe is composed of atoms, -absolutely equal, which are endowed with two properties: the one, -which is internal, is sensation; the {274} other, which is external, -is movement." This is the metaphysics of the Brazilian thinker, and -such was his influence that, according to a critic, "the theories of -Comte and Noiré explain modern intellectual Brazil." Sylvio Romero -expounded the evolutionary theories of Spencer, "a philosophic -monument even more important than that of Comte"; but in spite of the -efforts of this disciple Spencer is not as popular in Brazil as in -other American nations. - -Barreto, a monist and philosopher, was a disciple of the judicial -finalism of Jhering; Sylvio Romano, a disciple of Spencer, expounded -and supported the conclusions of the social science of Demolins; in -the scientific ardour of these propagandists doctrines were assembled -together which had no mutual affinity. In Brazil all exotic -philosophies find their readers and commentators, but the confusion -caused by incoherent imitations completely lacks the unity of a -national tendency. A psychologist of great value, a free follower of -Renan, Joachim Nabuco, in a style full of subtlety, writes essays in -philosophy and criticism. - -A Spanish philosopher, less rigid than the schoolmen and richer in -doctrine than the eclectics, Balmes engrossed many minds which were -fatigued by sterile eloquence. He founded no school in America, but -he is much read by the conservatives. His penetrating analysis, his -British realism, and his rationalism, which seeks to harmonise these -faculties with his dogmas, attract many who are repelled by a diffuse -spirituality. - -These various tendencies--English empiricism, French eclecticism, -Benthamism--are not very profound intellectual movements. They have -replaced the old scholasticism. A political ideology is wanted which -shall be adequate to the needs of those who are struggling for power; -metaphysical discussions are relegated to oblivion. - -[Illustration: JOSE ENRIQUE RODÓ (URUGUAY). Contemporary critic and -essayist. To face p. 274.] - -{275} - -Positivism was the first philosophy to impress men's intellects; it -has created great social movements, such as the Reformation in Mexico -and the Republic in Brazil. It became an intellectual dictatorship, -a new scholasticism. Free-thinkers believe in Comte and Spencer; in -the humanitarian religion of the first and the agnosticism of the -second. - -Comte, to quote Mill, founded a complete system of spiritual -despotism. It upholds order and authority as against the abuses of -individualism, "the energetic preponderance of the central power"; it -condemns "anarchy, and destructive liberalism"; it exalts "the -eminently social genius of Catholicism." In nations annihilated by -revolution and a romantic freedom these theories are liable to -justify dictatorship, as they did in Brazil. There the Comtian -phrase "order and progress" has become the national watchword. - -Other causes explain the supremacy of positivism; a reaction against -theology in the name of science, and against a vague and official -philosophy. Minds formed by Catholicism, even if they have lost -their faith, demand secular dogmas, and verities organised in a -facile system: in short, a new faith, and the Positivist philosophy -satisfies this craving. At the same time material progress, based -upon scientific development, and the utilitarianism which exaggerates -the importance of wealth, find in positivism, which disdains futile -ideologies, a system adequate to industrial life. - -In Mexico, Brazil, and Chili positivism in its integrity is -predominant: the philosophic method and the religion of humanity. In -Brazil the positivist school, with Constant, d'Araujo, Bastos, and -their disciples, preserves the calendar, the secular saints, and the -rites of the founder. It produces teachers and creates political -constitutions like that of Rio Grande do Sul, and ardently propagates -the doctrines {276} of Comte. In Chili, Juan Enrique Lagarigue -preached a generous idealism, and the oblivion of patriotic hatreds; -but the democracy did not give ear to this ingenuous apostle. In -Mexico Barreda, founder of the Preparatory College, and the leader of -intellectual life, was a disciple of Comte in Paris from the year -1867. He revolutionised Mexican education in a positivist direction, -but did not accept the religious aspect of the new philosophy. There -is still in Mexico a _Positivist Review_, which has a certain small -influence. - -Comtism influenced thinkers as a method, as a reaction against -theology and metaphysics, and as a goal of pedagogy. But the -philosophy of Spencer is that which has sent its roots deepest into -the life of the Latin republics; progress, the cardinal idea of the -romantics, is succeeded by evolution, a doctrine more agreeable to -the positivist intelligence. Since 1880 the theories of Spencer have -made converts of two generations; in some universities they -constitute an official system. No application has been made of his -psychology nor his biology, but his social and moral teaching has -been followed with servility. Politicians and journalists employ -Spencerian formulæ: the social organism, the instability of the -homogeneous, differentiation, the relativity of consciousness. In -1883 a Colombian politician, Rafael Nuñez, President of his country, -expounded the philosophy of Spencer to his fellow-citizens as a -remedy for the political dogmatism of his predecessors. American -statesmen might readily have asked the philosopher of evolution for -scientific suggestions, as did the Japanese. - -Under the influence of the English thinker the scientific period was -ushered in. The study of social science is beginning; men profess a -materialism or a positivism hostile to the older ontological ideas; -they believe in science even more than in the sciences, {277} in the -rational explanation of all mysteries, in the supremacy of -mathematics and physics. Various influences are at work, and the -confused result thereof favours the triumph of positivism. The -political and social theories of Dr. Gustave Le Bon, the impetuous -writings of Max Nordau, the criminology of Lombroso and Ferri, the -formulæ of Taine, the biology and sociology of Letourneau, are -studied and commented upon in the universities, the parliaments, and -the schools of South America. Eloquence is repudiated as contrary to -scientific precision, and romantic faith is disdained by the -positivist. A party which has ruled over the evolution of Mexico for -the last thirty years has named itself the "Scientific Party." - -The significance of these doctrines rapidly acquired an excessive -importance; in place of lucid methods and clear ideas we find the -teaching of the professors full of the narrowness of dogma. -Positivism implants a limited and vulgar rationalism, a new -metaphysic which accords an absolute truth to the formulæ of science; -which exalts egoism and practical interests, and the frantic pursuit -of wealth in daily life. The tendency of the American mind being -undue simplification, this philosophy has not been a discipline of -knowledge and action, but has limited the effort of man to the -conquest of the useful. The positivists organise plutocratic -tyrannies in certain American nations. - -Without reigning in the schools as Spencer has done, a French -philosopher, M. Fouillée, has greatly influenced law, politics, and -education. In spite of the reign of positivism his flexible doctrine -has attracted many Americans, and his works, such as the _Idée du -Droit_ and the _Histoire de la Philosophie_, are coming into use as -text-books in some universities. The theory of unavoidable ideas is -well known; and thinkers and philosophers have been {278} inspired by -this "philosophy of hope." By its noble idealism, by its admirable -wealth, its serene rationalism, and its essentially Latin character, -the harmonious system of M. Fouillée has won considerable popularity -among the youth of America. - -We cannot separate his influence from that of the young -poet-philosopher whom a premature death has consecrated: Guyau was -the professor of idealism to two generations of America. In _Ariel_ -José-Enrique Rodo has enlarged upon his finest metaphors; and a -Peruvian thinker, Gonzalez Prada, has popularised the suggestions of -this Platonic thinker upon death. - -Nietzsche also has disciples and commentators. Translated into -Spanish and vulgarised, his doctrines are the Bible of exasperated -egoism. Men saw nothing of his stoicism, his worship of heroic life -and tragic adventures; "concussionary" ministers and half-breeds -aspiring to power believe themselves Nietzschians, because in their -immoral advancement they ignore all moral scruples. A generation -above good and evil is practising opportunism--what the French call -"arrivism"--disorganising philosophy and society, and forgetting the -code of human dignity. - -Fouillée, Guyau, and Nietzsche have not supplanted the positivist -philosophers; the superstition of science and the hatred of -metaphysical construction is still prevalent. All the new doctrines -are making their way: pragmatism, Bergsonism, the philosophy of Wundt -and Croce, the philosophy of contingency: without, however, creating -new tendencies. From this variety of imitations perhaps an American -system will arise. To-day every intellectual novelty is passionately -received and applied; an Argentine judge has even founded some of his -judgments upon the teaching of Tarde. - -A reaction is setting in against dogmatic {279} positivism; the -present is a period of dissolution and criticism. In accepting -influences so various--English, German, and French--the old faith in -science, in Comte and Spencer, is evaporating. Two young -philosophers, Antonio Caso in Mexico and Henriquez Ureña in San -Domingo, have contributed to this analysis. Inspired by the ideas of -M. Emile Boutroux, they attack the narrow interpretation of -scientific laws. - -Thus after thirty years of influence, positivism is losing its -prestige. It is not being replaced in the schools by any rigid -system; but in place of an intolerant dogmatism we have a free -examination of which we cannot yet foresee the consequences. Some -essays of Enrique Varona, in his writings on morality and philosophy; -of Carlos Octavio Bunge, in his _Psicologia individual y social_; of -Vaz-Ferreira, in his critique of the problem of liberty; of Deustua, -of Lima, in his essays on morality, reveal the fact that the new -school is not lacking in a serious philosophical orientation. But -originality, the new doctrine, the Ibero-American school--are these -shortly to be realities? So long as these nations are still busy at -the task of self-organisation in the midst of anarchical unrest, so -long as the cult of wealth prevails above all disinterested efforts, -so long we shall assuredly have no other philosophy than an -adaptation of foreign systems. - -But in the new movements philosophical speculation is losing its old -simplicity; the study of psychology is developing, analysis is more -profound, the old verbal solutions are rejected, and the study of -societies is acquiring an extraordinary importance. - -Half a century ago books on political science swarmed. The same -pragmatic preoccupation--the adaptation of scientific ideas to the -uses of social life--prevails to-day. - -Many sociologists are inspired by biology, or {280} psychology, or -historical materialism. Cornejo, in Peru, is adopting the -psychological theories of Wundt, his analysis of language, myth, and -custom. Letelier, in Chili, inclines toward the positivism of Comte; -Ramos Mejia, in the Argentine, explains social phenomena in a -biological sense. His books, _La Locura en la Historia_, _Las Masas -Argentinas_, reveal this tendency. Ingegnieros has studied the -history of the Argentine in relation to the economic factor. His -work, _De la Barbarie al Imperalismo_, is an essay in Marxist -sociology. - -To sum up; social science preoccupies our thinkers rather than pure -philosophy. Neither the great German idealists nor the critics and -thinkers are known in America; neither Hume, nor Kant, nor Hegel, -although the Spanish orator Emilio Castelar has propagated a -Hegelianism _ad usum delphini_ in the new continent. The pessimism -of Schopenhauer does not acclimatise itself in the tropics. -Eclecticism, positivism, and spiritualism prevail. - -[Illustration: ALCIDES ARGUEDAS (BOLIVIA). Novelist and sociologist. -To face p. 280.] - - - - -{282} - -BOOK VI - - _THE LATIN SPIRIT AND THE GERMAN, NORTH - AMERICAN, AND JAPANESE PERILS_ - -From a racial point of view, it is true, one cannot call the South -American republics Latin nations. They are rather Indo-African or -Africo-Iberian. Latin culture--the ideas and the art of France, the -laws and the Catholicism of Rome--have created in South America a -mental attitude analogous to that of the great Mediterranean peoples, -which is hostile or alien to the civilisation of the Germanic or -Anglo-Saxon peoples. - -New influences, whether they come from Germany or Anglo-Saxon -America, and even more those that come from Japan, are dangerous to -the Latin-American nations, if they tend to destroy their traditions. - - - - -{283} - -CHAPTER I - -ARE THE IBERO-AMERICANS OF LATIN RACE - -Spanish and Portuguese heredity--Latin culture--The influence of the -Roman laws, of Catholicism, and of French thought--The Latin spirit -in America: its qualities and defects. - - -Contrasting the Imperial Republic of North America with the twenty -democracies of South America, we seek the reason of the antagonism -which exists between them in the essential element of race. The -contrast between Anglo-Saxons and Latins is the contrast between two -cultures. - -The South American peoples consider themselves Latin by race, just as -their brothers of the North are the remote descendants of the -Anglo-Saxon Pilgrim Fathers; but although the United States were -created largely by the aggregation of austere English emigrants, -there has been no intervention of pure Latin elements in the -colonisation of the South. Navigators of Latin blood discovered an -unknown continent, and Spaniards and Portuguese conquered and -colonised it; but there was little Latin blood to be found in the -homes formed by the sensuality of the first conquerors of a desolated -America. - -Emigrants from Estremadura and Galicia, Andalusians and Castilians, -many-hued men of Spain and Portugal, were all concerned in the first -interbreeding with the vanquished races; they were Iberians, in whom -the anthropologists discover moral analogies with the Berbers of -North Africa. The Basques, {284} rude and virile, who emigrated from -Spain to dominate America, did not come of Latin stock; the -Andalusian element, from Seville or Cadiz, was of Oriental origin. A -Spain that was half African and half Germanic colonised the vast -territories of America; two heredities, Visigoth and Arab, were -united in its strange genius. - -The French and Italian colonists have not the importance of the -Spaniards and Portuguese; they are inferior in numbers and in wealth. -The Iberians have jealously defended their racial prerogative in -these isolated transatlantic colonies. After three centuries, when -once the continent was opened to the outside world and to European -commerce, the Italians invaded the rich plains of the Argentine; -there they contributed to the formation of a new race, which is more -Latin than Spanish. - -But we must not forget the innumerable Anglo-Saxons who have founded -families in the Argentine and in Chili, and have brought wealth to -those countries; nor the Germans in Southern Brazil, nor the Asiatics -of the Peruvian seaboard. Iberians, Indians, Latins, Anglo-Saxons, -and Orientals all mingle in America; a babel of races, so mixed that -it is impossible to discover the definite outlines of the future type. - -It is useless to look for unity of race in such a country. And even -in the United States the confused invasion of Russian Jews and -Southern Italians is little by little undermining the primitive -Anglo-Saxon unity. - -This confusion of races in the North and the South leaves two -traditions, the Anglo-Saxon and the Iberian. By force of -assimilation these traditions are transforming the new races. -Englishmen and Spaniards disappear, but the two moral inheritances -survive. - -The Latin tradition is not far to seek in the {285} Americans of the -South. They are not exclusively either Spanish or Portuguese; the -legacy received from Spain is modified by persistent influences of -French and Italian origin. - -From Mexico to La Plata, by long continued and extensive action, the -Roman laws, Catholicism, and the ideas of France have given a uniform -aspect to the American conscience. - -Laws of Spanish origin prevail in South America; they have formed the -rigid framework of civil life. These laws, in spite of strong feudal -elements, are of Roman origin. Under the influence of Roman law -Alfonso X. unified Spanish legislation, during the first half of the -thirteenth century; three centuries later the Spaniards colonised -America. The _Partidas_, that vast encyclopædia of law and -collection of Castilian laws in particular, is a Roman code. It -confirmed the individualist sense of property as against the Spanish -forms of collectivism; it reinforced the power of the _paterfamilias_ -in the austere Iberian family; it consecrated equality, authorising -marriage between free men and the serfs formerly banished from the -State; and it adopted the Roman formalism. - -Politically, after the downfall of the feudal system, ambitious -princes, from the time of Alfonso X. to that of the Catholic Kings -and of Charles V., enforced their royal authority in the Roman sense. -These monarchs were Cæsars; they concentrated all the powers of the -State in themselves; they centralised, unified, and legislated. This -royal absolutism destroyed privilege and levelled mankind. A vast -Spanish democracy was formed, subject to Cæsar, after the manner of -the Roman people. The Latin sense of authority and law prevailed in -the Spanish colonies; property was individual and absolute; civil -equality obtained; in spite of racial differences, Indians and -Spaniards were theoretically {286} on the same plane; the family, -like the Roman _gens_, united slaves and children under the gloomy -paternal power. The distant monarch was a formidable overlord, to -whom viceroys and chapters, courts, judicial and ecclesiastical, -addressed themselves to demand laws and regulations, penalties and -sanctions. - -Catholicism was indissolubly bound up with the Roman authority of the -laws; in Spain and America the prince was at the same time the -shepherd of the Church. Religion was an instrument of political -domination; it was an imperial force, a legacy of the Latin genius. -It multiplied forms and rites; it disciplined the colonists, -demanding outward obedience and uniformity of belief and manners. -"The Roman Church," says Harnack, "is a juridical institution." -Catholicism is also a social religion. In America it created the -Brazilian nation in opposition to the Dutch peril; it founded -republics among Indians inimical to all forms of organised social -life; it extended the field of Latin endeavour, and from North to -South favoured the constitution of new governments and societies. - -Under the double pressure of Roman Catholicism and legislation, -America became Latinised. It learned to respect laws and forms, to -submit to a religious as well as a civil discipline. French ideas, -added to these influences, first prepared the way for the Revolution, -and afterwards dominated the mind of America, from the Declaration of -Independence to our own days. - -These ideas constituted a new factor of Latin development. France is -the modern heir of the genius of Greece and Rome, and in imitating -her, even to excess, Ibero-Americans have assimilated the essential -elements of the antique culture. We find in the Gallic spirit the -sense of taste and harmony, the _lucidus ordo_ of the classics; the -love of general ideas, of universal principles, of the rights of man, -{287} and a hatred of the mists of the North and the too violent -light of the South; rationalism, logical vigour, emotion in the -presence of beauty, and the cult of grace. France has been the -teacher of social life and letters to the American democracies; her -influence is already of no recent date. Voltaire and Rousseau were -the theorists of the revolutionary period; Lamartine taught "lyrism" -and romantic melancholy; Benjamin-Constant, the theory of politics, -and Verlaine the lamentations of decadence. - -Either indirectly, through the influence of the thought and -literature of Spain and Portugal, or directly, these republics have -lived by the light of French ideas. - -Thus a general current of thought has arisen on the American -continent which is not merely Iberian, but also French and Roman. -France has effected a spiritual conquest of these democracies, and -has created a new variety of the Latin spirit. This Latin spirit is -not a thing apart; it is formed of characteristics common to all the -Mediterranean peoples. French, Greeks, Italians, Portuguese, and -Spaniards find therein the fundamental elements of their national -genius, just as in antiquity the Greek women found in Helen the -reflection of their own beauty. To this spiritual synthesis Spain -contributes her idealism; Italy, the paganism of her children and the -eternal suggestion of her marbles; France, her harmonious education. - -In the Iberian democracies an inferior Latinity, a Latinity of the -decadence prevails; verbal abundance, inflated rhetoric, oratorical -exaggeration, just as in Roman Spain. The qualities and defects of -the classic spirit are revealed in American life; the persistent -idealism, which often disdains the conquests of utility; the ideas of -humanity and equality, of universality, despite racial variety; the -cult of form; the Latin instability and vivacity; the faith in pure -{288} ideas and political dogmas: all are to be found in these lands -oversea, together with the brilliant and superficial intelligence, -the Jacobinism, and the oratorical facility. Enthusiasm, -sociability, and optimism are also American qualities. - -These republics are not free from any of the ordinary weaknesses of -the Latin races. The State is omnipotent; the liberal professions -are excessively developed; the power of the bureaucracy becomes -alarming. The character of the average citizen is weak, inferior to -his imagination and intelligence; ideas of union and the spirit of -solidarity have to contend with the innate indiscipline of the race. -These men, dominated by the solicitations of the outer world and the -tumult of politics, have no inner life; you will find among them no -great mystics, no great lyrical writers. They meet realities with an -exasperated individualism. - -Indisciplined, superficial, brilliant, the South Americans belong to -the great Latin family; they are the children of Spain, Portugal, and -Italy by blood and by deep-rooted tradition, and by their general -ideas they are the children of France. A French politician, M. -Clemenceau, found in Brazil, the Argentine, and Uruguay, "a -superabundant Latinism; a Latinism of feeling, a Latinism of thought -and action, with all its immediate and superficial advantages, and -all its defects of method, its alternatives of energy and failure in -the accomplishment of design." This new American spirit is -indestructible. Contact with Anglo-Saxon civilisation may partially -renew it, but the integral transformation of the spirit proper to the -Latin nations will never be accomplished. It would be a racial -suicide. Where Yankees and Latin Americans intermingle you may -better observe the insoluble contradictions which divide them. The -Anglo-Saxons are conquering America commercially and economically, -but the {289} traditions, the ideals, and the soul of these republics -are hostile to them. - -The Ibero-American race should seek to correct its vices without -forsaking the framework of tradition which is proper to it. Without -losing its originality as a nation, France is to-day triumphant in -many departments of sport, and is spending her energy and inventive -genius upon the conquest of the air without counting the cost; she -has made her own victories which seemed to belong to the Anglo-Saxon. -At the same time, if the American democracies are to acquire a -practical spirit, a persistent activity, and a virile energy, they -must do so without renouncing their language, their religion, and -their history. - -The defence of the Latin spirit has become a duty of primordial -importance. Barrès, an impassioned ideologist, preaches the cult of -self as a remedy for barbarism; no foreign tutelage must trouble the -spontaneous internal revelation. The republics oversea, wending -their way under hostile or indifferent eyes, _sous l'oeil des -Barbares_, must cultivate their spiritual originality in the -encounter with inimical forces. - -The North American peril, the threat of Germany, the menace of Japan, -surround the future of Latin America like those mysterious forces -which, in the drama of Maeterlinck, dominate the human stage, and in -silence prepare the way for the great human tragedies. To defend the -traditions of the Latin continent, it is useful to measure the -importance of the influences which threaten it. - - - - -{290} - -CHAPTER II - -THE GERMAN PERIL - -German Imperialism and the Monroe doctrine--_Das Deutschtum_ and -Southern Brazil--What the Brazilians think about it. - - -The Teutonic invasion is troubling our Ibero-American writers. The -tutelary protection of the United States does not suffice to make -them forget the European peril; memories of the Holy Alliance, of -that crusade of religious absolutism and reconquest, are still lively -in Latin America. - -Three great nations--England, France, Germany--aspired to establish -their supremacy oversea in a lasting manner. England, a colonising -power in all parts of the world, thought to rule at Buenos-Ayres; the -defence of that Spanish city by the Viceroy Liniers was, says Onésime -Reclus, the Latin revenge for the taking of Quebec. France attacked -Mexico, and forced a monarch upon her; England and a French monarch -sent expeditions against the nationalist dictator Rosas, and Lord -Salisbury, in a diplomatic duel with the North American Secretary of -State, Mr. Olney, attempted to ignore the tutelary significance of -the Monroe doctrine. - -The triumphs of these attempts would have founded in Latin America -extensive colonies, proud and populous. The efforts of the -ill-organised republics could not have prevailed against them. - -For the new continent this would have meant a loss of autonomy; but -the Monroe doctrine stood in {291} the way of any conquests save -those made by the United States, and a sudden disagreement between -the two invading nations, France and England, in their campaign -against Rosas, caused these attempts to miscarry. The three Guianas, -British Honduras, and some of the West Indian islands, bear witness -to the ambitions of Europe; they are the scattered fragments of the -empire which the Old World coveted. Invasions of capital and of -merchant vessels quickly replaced those of warships. - -Secretly, without the employment of these warlike means, Germany -began to make herself felt; her imperialism wore a mercantile -disguise, or took the form of immigration. Persevering Teutonic -colonists made their way toward Brazil, Chili, and Central America, -and although the European peril was over the German peril survived. -Neither Russia, who possesses vast desert territories in Asia, nor -Italy, whose ambitions are limited to Africa, to Tripoli, considered -the possibility of conquest upon the American continent. - -Against flat invasion by any power the tutelage of the United States -is a protection, but the Monroe doctrine is powerless against the -slow and imperceptible invasion of German immigration. By virtue of -their capital and their adventurers, Germany and the United States -are slowly occupying South America; other continents being closed to -their ambitions of expansion, it is in the free territory of the New -World that they found their colonies. There we find their bankers -and merchants, the rude emissaries of these commercial powers. -Americans and Germans resemble one another by race and in energy. -The Middle West of the United States was peopled by German emigrants; -two imposing cities, New York and St. Louis, are vast reservoirs of -Teutonic energy. The new empire is actuated by ambitions similar to -those of the United States; {292} both are conquering and plutocratic -powers. The German Empire has the passions of a new people; the -active faith, the practical Christianity, the cult of gold, the -instinct of gigantic accumulations, of cyclopean enterprises, trusts, -and combinations, and the optimism, the anxious desire to improvise -the civilising work of centuries by the pressure of sheer wealth. -The Kaiser and Colonel Roosevelt, Biblical shepherds of their people, -evangelists of the strenuous life, direct the ardent industrial -evolution of their nations, and establish a mystic imperialism. It -is from this analogy of tendencies that the future clash will come. -To-day the continual incursion of the United States into South -American affairs and the organised immigration from Germany are -different forms of the same ambition. - -In Guatemala and Costa Rica the influence of Germany is immense; the -importance of her capital in Central America can only be compared -with that of England in the Argentine. It is valued at £15,000,000. -Germans acquire landed property, build railroads, and found banks. -In these regions two dominating influences are in conflict: German -imperialism and the Monroe doctrine. The Kaiser hastens to recognise -President Madriz in Nicaragua, while the revolutionists, protected by -the United States, hasten to deprive him of his ephemeral power. -Dispersed throughout Chili, Venezuela, Peru, and Central America, the -Germans are concentrating in southern Brazil. They aspire to the -integral colonisation of three Brazilian States--Santa-Catalina, -Parana, and Rio Grande do Sul. Since 1825 a slow current of humanity -has invaded these rich provinces: 350,000 Germans are established -there, where they rule the municipalities, enjoy rights of -self-government, despise the negroes and half-castes, and live in an -aristocratic isolation. They {293} have retained the language, -traditions, and prejudices of their native country. In certain -colonies of the South there are only 10 per cent. of Brazilian -citizens; the Germans represent the prevailing race, the effective -nationality. Their efforts further the territorial ambition of _Das -Deutschtum_. - -Economists recommend that the excessive immigration which constantly -pours into the United States should be directed towards South -America. A tenth part of the population of the United States admits -to a Teutonic origin; there are eight millions of Germans in the huge -northern democracy. Thanks to affinities of race, or thanks to the -assimilative action of the national spirit, this colossal colony does -not form a State within the State; its members adapt themselves to -the American life, and in the numerous schools of the country they -assimilate an Anglo-Saxon culture. They do not threaten the normal -development of the republic, as do the negroes of the South and the -Asiatics of the Far West. - -In Brazil the Germans occupy eight thousand square miles of -territory. They proudly contrast the magnificent destinies of the -_Vaterland_ with the turbulent federalism of the Brazilian States. -The colonisation companies affiliated to the powerful and active -banks, in especial the _Deutsche Uberseeische Bank_, a marvellous -instrument of conquest, are extending the prosaic Teutonic hegemony -through Brazil and the whole of Latin America. In Chili Germans -direct the education of the country, and organise the army; just as -in the Prussian schools, they teach an intolerant patriotism and a -strongly nationalistic history. - -While the emigrants are realising their imperialistic Odyssey, German -professors are condemning the Monroe doctrine. Hugo Münsterberg, -professor of philosophy at Harvard, and Adolf Wagner, an economist of -Berlin, regard the Yankee thesis merely as {294} a perishable -improvisation upon a fragile foundation. The interest of Germany -demands that the United States should abandon their tutelage, and -that the swarming Germanic legions should invade the southern -continent. Münsterberg writes in his book _The Americans_ that the -Yankee will soon realise "the error and folly" of his argument, which -he qualifies as a moribund doctrine. No Russian, French, or Italian -colony in South America, he says, could create difficulties in the -United States; but the doctrine which forbids their establishment -will be the cause of conflicts in the future. If South America were -set free from this tutelage, if its bearing were limited to Central -America, the possibilities of a conflict between the United States -and Europe would be considerably diminished. Does not this -disinterested counsel conceal a desire to found colonies upon a -continent which the vigilance of the United States would no longer -protect? - -An economist who, like Treitschke and Sybel, believes in the divine -mission of the German Empire, Gustave Schmoller, would like to see a -nation of twenty or thirty millions of inhabitants founded in -Southern Brazil. - -Concentrated in the three provinces of Brazil, an unmixed and hostile -race would struggle against the Brazilian half-breeds and prevail -over them, which is what these professors of conquest desire. This -fruitful invasion would realise the dream entertained by those rich -bankers of Augsburg, the Velzers, who three centuries ago bought a -Venezuelan province from the Hispano-Germanic monarch, Charles V. -Heirs of this vast abortive plan, the German financiers of our days -dream of planting a foreign province in the heart of the vast -territory of Brazil. - -Brazilian thinkers have protested against this German conquest in -disguise; they recognise the {295} danger, and seek to avoid it. -Sylvio Romero suggests, as a means of limiting this expansion, the -education of the race along Anglo-Saxon lines, which would develop -the love of initiative and the sense of effort, a migration of -Brazilian proletarians who should occupy these southern territories -and hold them against the Germans, and finally, the establishment of -military colonies in the threatened regions. It is the traditional -struggle for nationality, for the possession of the very soil itself. -Language is an instrument of conquest; it is therefore urgent to -enforce the use of Portuguese in the schools of the South, where the -far-sighted colonists teach only their own tongue. Foreign -syndicates acquire large and numerous stretches of territory; Señor -Romero would have these land trusts inhibited, and would favour the -establishment of indigenous centres among the German populations, in -order to contend with this perilous invasion by an alien race.[1] - -The national uneasiness has even affected the art of the country; -Graça Aranha has written, in _Canaan_, the drama of the contact of -races. "For the moment," says Milkau, the blond invader of the -half-breed country, "we are nothing more than a solvent acting upon -the race of the country. We are effecting a new conquest, slow, -persistent, and pacific in the means employed, but terrible in its -ambitious intention." Hentz, his companion, proudly describes the -triumph of the white man, and the {296} expulsion of the "coloured -man who was born on the land." He prophesies a terrible future: "The -Germans will arrive with their thirst for possession and domination, -and their originality, the harsh originality of barbarians, in -unnumbered legions; they will kill off the sensual and foolish -natives who have built up their societies upon this splendid soil and -have degraded it by their turpitude." - -It is the purging of a territory infested by African slaves. -Germany, mother of men without number, _officina et vagina gentium_, -invades with her blond legions the land of brown men, sends forth her -chaste Teutons to the conquest of the lascivious forest. - -Without denying the reality of this peril, we cannot but realise that -it would be difficult to establish on Brazilian soil colonies which -should reflect the glory of _Das Deutschtum_. Already 350,000 -Germans are lost in the national mass; demographically they signify -nothing as against the 19 millions of Brazilians. To found a -colonial empire in the interior of the Lusitanian Republic it would -first of all be necessary to have a strong basis of population; the -theorists of the Germanic movement of expansion would dispose of 18 -to 20 million emigrants in these rich southern provinces. Moreover, -the Germanic invasion is not concentrated upon Brazil. The United -States absorb the Germanic alluvium; and the Brazilian half-breeds -being fertile, the numerical disproportion between the natives and -the blond invaders would in the future be enormous. - -On the other hand, the contingent of Teutonic immigration is -diminishing. The modern cities of industrial Germany are increasing -in numbers and in population; they are absorbing new elements into -their artificial life. The rural multitude which migrates is -changing the direction of its painful journey; it no longer forsakes -its fatherland, but leaves the silent fields for the enervating life -of the {297} cities. Its taste has become sophisticated; it prefers -urban attractions to the adventures of emigration. In the last ten -years barely 30,000 Germans have left the _Vaterland_ each year. Not -with such scanty legions as these will Germany establish a centre of -domination oversea, for even these are divided among the United -States, Central America, and Brazil. - -The Italians, enriched and triumphant, are invading the Argentine and -Southern Brazil. Theirs is a current of increasing volume; more than -50,000 Latins emigrate annually; they adapt themselves to their new -country, acquire immense stretches of soil, and accumulate enormous -fortunes, until names of foreign origin begin to predominate in the -world of Argentine letters and in the plutocratic salons of the new -continent. They transmit their Latin heritage to their numerous -children. The stiff-necked group of German colonists cannot vanquish -these races, whose affinities are the same as those of the natives, -and who bring oversea the sensuality of Naples and the commonsense of -Milan. - -When German emigration is not excessively concentrated upon one point -it forms laborious and assimilable populations. The German learns -more readily than the Englishman the language of his new country; he -studies local manners and adopts them; he brings to the restless and -turbulent democracies of America his deliberation, his spirit of -industry, and his methodical activity. In the Argentine, in Chili, -in Peru, in countries where he has not yet undertaken to establish -the foundation of an empire, his influence has been fruitful. - -The tutelage of the United States seems to us more dangerous than the -German invasion. - - -[1] See _A America latina_, Porto, 1907, p. 323. M. Onésime Reclus -gives the same advice to the Lusitanians of America: "In each State, -in each municipality, let those charged with the partition of the -soil see that they establish no Polish, German, English, or Irish -colonies unless they also establish Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian, -French, and Italian, or analogous colonies; let no colony be formed -exclusively of people of a single nationality, but well divided among -colonists speaking different tongues; and if such a law be strictly -observed Latin America may resist the fatal onset of Slav or German -Europe" (_Le Partage du Monde_, p. 278). - - - - -{298} - -CHAPTER III - -THE NORTH AMERICAN PERIL - -The policy of the United States--The Monroe doctrine: its various -aspects--Greatness and decadence of the United States--The two -Americas, Latin and Anglo-Saxon. - - -To save themselves from Yankee imperialism the American democracies -would almost accept a German alliance, or the aid of Japanese arms; -everywhere the Americans of the North are feared. In the Antilles -and in Central America hostility against the Anglo-Saxon invaders -assumes the character of a Latin crusade. Do the United States -deserve this hatred? Are they not, as their diplomatists preach, the -elder brothers, generous and protecting? And is not protection their -proper vocation in a continent rent by anarchy? - -We must define the different aspects of their activities in South -America; a summary examination of their influence could not fail to -be unjust. They have conquered new territories, but they have upheld -the independence of feeble States; they aspire to the hegemony of the -Latin continent, but this ambition has prevented numerous and -grievous conflicts between South American nations. The moral -pressure of the United States makes itself felt everywhere; the -imperialist and maternal Republic intervenes in all the internal -conflicts of the Spanish-speaking democracies. It excites or -suppresses revolutions; it fulfils a high vocation of culture. It -{299} uses or abuses a privilege which cannot be gainsaid. The -better to protect the Ibero-Americans, it has proudly raised its -Pillars of Hercules against the ambition of the Old World. - -Sometimes this influence becomes a monopoly, and the United States -take possession of the markets of the South. They aim at making a -trust of the South American republics, the supreme dream of their -multi-millionaire _conquistadors_. Alberdi has said that there they -are the "Puerto Cabello" of the new America; that is to say, that -they aim, after the Spanish fashion, at isolating the southern -continent and becoming its exclusive purveyors of ideas and -industries. - -Their supremacy was excellent when it was a matter of basing the -independence of twenty republics of uncertain future upon a solid -foundation. The neo-Saxons did not then intervene in the wars of the -South; they remained neutral and observed the peace which Washington -had advocated. They proclaimed the autonomy of the continent, and -contributed to conserve the originality of Southern America by -forbidding the formation of colonies in its empty territories, and by -defending the republican and democratic States against reactionary -Europe. - -But who will deliver the Ibero-Americans from the excess of this -influence? _Quis custodiet custodem?_ An irresponsible supremacy is -perilous. - -Naturally, in the relations of the United States and the nations of -the South actions do not always correspond with words; the art of -oratory is lavish with a fraternal idealism, but strong wills enforce -their imperialistic ambitions. Although fully attentive to the -fair-sounding promises of the North, the statesmen of the South -refuse to believe in the friendship of the Yankees; being perturbed -by the memory of ancient and recent conquests, these peoples perhaps -exaggerate the danger which might come from the {300} North. A blind -confidence and an excessive timidity are equally futile. - -In 1906, at the conference of Rio de Janeiro, Secretary Root, in the -presence of assembled America, was the lay prophet of the new gospel. - -"We do not wish," he said, "to win victories, we desire no territory -but our own, nor a sovereignty more extensive than that which we -desire to retain over ourselves. We consider that the independence -and the equal rights of the smallest and weakest members of the -family of nations deserve as much respect as those of the great -empires. We pretend to no right, privilege, or power that we do not -freely concede to each one of the American Republics." This was the -solemn declaration of a Puritan politician; Mr. Root continues the -noble tradition of Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton. - -Ten years earlier another secretary, Mr. Olney, declared to Lord -Salisbury that the great Anglo-Saxon Republic was practically -sovereign--paramount was his word--on the American continent, and -that its fiat was law in affairs which called for its intervention. -Which is the truth: the imperialistic declarations of Mr. Olney or -the idealism of Mr. Root? - -Against the policy of respect for Latin liberties are ranged the -instincts of a triumphant plutocracy. The centre of North American -life is passing from Boston to Chicago; the citadel of the ideal -gives way to the material progress of the great porcine metropolis. -There is a conflict of dissimilar currents of morality. The Puritan -tradition of New England seems useless in the struggle of the Far -West; the conquest of the desert demands another morality; the -morality of conflict, aggression, and success. The trusts raise -their heads above the impotent clamour of the weak. The conflict -between the new-comers is tumultuous and brutal; as in the time of -imperial {301} Rome, the latter-day republicans are becoming aware of -their defeat by a new caste, animated by an impetuous love of -conflict. It is the struggle between idealism and plutocracy, -between the tradition of the Pilgrim Fathers and the morality of Wall -Street; the patricians of the Senate and the bosses of Tammany Hall. - -The great historical parties are divided; while the democrats do not -forget the ideal of Washington and Lincoln, the republicans think -only of imperialism. - -Will a generous _élite_ succeed in withstanding this racial tendency? -Perhaps, but nothing can check the onward march of the United States. -Their imperialism is an unavoidable phenomenon. - -The nation which was peopled by nine millions of men in 1820 now -numbers eighty millions--an immense demographic power; in the space -of ten years, from 1890 to 1900, this population increased by -one-fifth. By virtue of its iron, wheat, oil, and cotton, and its -victorious industrialism, the democracy aspires to a world-wide -significance of destiny; the consciousness of its powers is creating -fresh international duties. Yankee pride increases with the endless -multiplication of wealth and population, and the patriotic sentiment -has reached such an intensity that it has become transformed into -imperialism. - -The United States buy the products they themselves lack from the -tropical nations. To rule in these fertile zones would to them -appear the geographical ideal of a northern people. Do not their -industries demand new outlets in America and Asia? So to the old -mystic ambition are added the necessities of utilitarian progress. -An industrial nation, the States preach a practical Christianity to -the older continents, to Europe, and to lands yet barbarous, as to -South America; they profess a doctrine of aggressive idealism, a -strange fusion of economic tendencies and Puritan fervour. The -Christian Republic imposes {302} its tutelage upon inferior races, -and so prepares them for self-government. - -This utilitarian and mystical expansion is opposed to the primitive -simplicity of the Monroe doctrine. In 1823, to counter the political -methods of the Holy Alliance, President Monroe upheld the republican -integrity of the ancient Spanish colonies. The celebrated message -declared that there were no free territories in America, thus -condemning in advance any projected establishment of European -colonies upon the unoccupied continent of America, and that the -United States limited their political action to the New World, and -renounced all intervention in the disputes of Europe. - -At the close of the last century the political absolutism of the Holy -Alliance was only a memory; democracy is progressing, even in the -heart of the most despotic of monarchies, and France is republican. -Europe, after the tragic adventure of the Mexican Empire, abandoned -her expeditions of conquest. The United States, forgetting their -initial isolation, intervened in the politics of the world; they -defended the integrity of China, took part in the conference of -Algeciras, and maintained peace in the East. Like the character in -Terence, nothing in the world leaves them unconcerned. The two bases -of the Monroe doctrine, the absolutism of Europe and the isolation of -the United States, exist no longer, but the Monroe doctrine persists -indefinitely. "If," says Mr. Coolidge, professor of political law at -the University of Harvard, "if, by his principles, the American finds -himself drawn to conclusions which do not please him, he ordinarily -revolts, forsakes his promises, and jumps to conclusions that suit -him better." To the logic of the Latins Americans and Englishmen -oppose utility, common sense, instinct. - -The Monroe doctrine has undergone an essential transformation; it has -passed successively from the {303} defensive to intervention and -thence to the offensive. From a theory which condemned any change of -political _régime_ among the new democracies under European pressure, -and which forbade all acquisitions of territory, or the transfer of -power from a weak to a strong nation, there arose the Polk doctrine, -which, in 1845, decreed the annexation of Texas for fear of foreign -intervention. In 1870 President Grant demanded the seizure of San -Domingo as a measure of national protection, a new corollary of the -Monroe doctrine. President Johnson was anxious to see his country in -possession of Cuba in the name of the "laws of political gravitation -which throw small States into the gullets of the great powers." In -1895 Secretary of State Olney, at the time of the trouble between -England and Venezuela, declared that the United States were in fact -sovereign in America. From Monroe to Olney the defensive doctrine -has gradually changed to a moral tutelage. - -If theories change, frontiers change no less. The northern Republic -has been the beneficiary of an incessant territorial expansion: in -1813 it acquired Louisiana; in 1819, Florida; in 1845 and 1850, -Texas; the Mexican provinces in 1848 and 1852; and Alaska in 1858. -The annexation of Hawaii took place in 1898. In the same year Porto -Rico, the Philippines, Guam, and one of the Marianne Islands, passed, -by the Treaty of Paris, into the hands of the United States. They -obtained the Samoan Islands in 1890, wished to buy the Danish West -Indies in 1902, and planted their imperialistic standard at Panama in -1903. - -Interventions have become more frequent with the expansion of -frontiers. The United States have recently intervened in the -territory of Acre, there to found a republic of rubber gatherers; at -Panama, there to develop a province and construct a canal; in Cuba, -under cover of the Platt amendment, to {304} maintain order in the -interior; in San Domingo, to support the civilising revolution and -overthrow the tyrants; in Venezuela, and in Central America, to -enforce upon these nations, torn by intestine disorders, the -political and financial tutelage of the imperial democracy. In -Guatemala and Honduras the loans concluded with the monarchs of North -American finance have reduced the people to a new slavery. -Supervision of the customs and the dispatch of pacificatory squadrons -to defend the interests of the Anglo-Saxon have enforced peace and -tranquillity: such are the means employed. The _New York American_ -announces that Mr. Pierpont Morgan proposes to encompass the finances -of Latin America by a vast network of Yankee banks. Chicago -merchants and Wall Street financiers created the Meat Trust in the -Argentine. The United States offer millions for the purpose of -converting into Yankee loans the moneys raised in London during the -last century by the Latin American States; they wish to obtain a -monopoly of credit. It has even been announced, although the news -hardly appears probable, that a North American syndicate wished to -buy enormous belts of land in Guatemala, where the English tongue is -the obligatory language. The fortification of the Panama Canal, and -the possible acquisition of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, are -fresh manifestations of imperialistic progress. - -The Monroe doctrine takes an aggressive form with Mr. Roosevelt, the -politician of the "big stick," and intervention _à outrance_. -Roosevelt is conscious of his sacred mission; he wants a powerful -army, and a navy majestically sailing the two oceans. His ambitions -find an unlooked-for commentary in a book by Mr. Archibald Coolidge, -the Harvard professor, upon the United States as a world-power. He -therein shows the origin of the disquietude of the South Americans -before the Northern peril: "When two {305} contiguous States," he -writes, "are separated by a long line of frontiers and one of the two -rapidly increases, full of youth and vigour, while the other -possesses, together with a small population, rich and desirable -territories, and is troubled by continual revolutions which exhaust -and weaken it, the first will inevitably encroach upon the second, -just as water will always seek to regain its own level." - -He recognises the fact that the progress accomplished by the United -States is not of a nature to tranquillise the South American; "that -the Yankee believes that his southern neighbours are trivial and -childish peoples, and above all incapable of maintaining a proper -self-government." He thinks the example of Cuba, liberated "from the -rule of Spain, but not from internal troubles, will render the -American of the States sceptical as to the aptitude of the -Latin-American populations of mixed blood to govern themselves -without disorder," and recognises that the "pacific penetration" of -Mexico by American capital constitutes a possible menace to the -independence of that Republic, were the death of Diaz to lead to its -original state of anarchy and disturb the peace which the -millionaires of the North desire to see untroubled. - -Warnings, advice, distrust, invasion of capital, plans of financial -hegemony--all these justify the anxiety of the southern peoples. - -The people of the United States have always desired a _Zollverein_, a -fiscal union of all the Republics; they wish to gather into their -imperial hands the commerce of the South, the produce of the tropics. -The unity of the German Empire was born of a _Zollverein_ or customs -union, and perhaps in the future the same means will create that -eternal empire of which the patriotism of Mr. Chamberlain used to -dream. The United States, according to candid Professor Coolidge, -are, in respect of Latin {306} America, in a position analogous to -that of Russia in respect of the nations of the _Zollverein_: their -population is greater and more imposing. "History shows us," he -writes, "that when feeble states and powerful states are closely -associated the independence of the weak states runs certain -risks."[1] The Yankee ideal, then, is fatally contrary to -Latin-American independence. - -For geographical reasons, and on account of its very inferiority, -South America cannot dispense with the influence of the Anglo-Saxon -North, with its exuberant wealth and its industries. South America -has need of capital, of enterprising men, of bold explorers, and -these the United States supply in abundance. The defence of the -South should consist in avoiding the establishment of privileges or -monopolies, whether in favour of North Americans or Europeans. - -It is essential to understand not only the foundations of North -American greatness, but also the weaknesses of the Anglo-Saxon -democracy, in order to escape from the dangers of excessive imitation. - -The Anglo-Saxons of America have created an admirable democracy upon -a prodigious expanse of territory. A caravan of races has pitched -its tents from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and has watered the -desert with its impetuous blood. Dutch, French, Anglo-Saxons, and -Germans, people of all sects, Quakers, Presbyterians, Catholics, -Puritans, all have mingled their creeds in a single multiform nation. -At the contact of new soil men have felt the pride of creation and of -living. Initiative, self-assertion, self-reliance, audacity, love of -adventure, all the forms of the victorious will are united in this -Republic of energy. A triumphant optimism quickens the rhythm of -life; an immense impulse of creation builds cities in the wilderness, -and founds new {307} plutocracies amidst the whirlpool of the -markets. Workshops, factories, banks; the obscure unrest of Wall -Street; the architectural insolence of the skyscraper; the -many-coloured, material West; all mingle perpetually in the wild, -uncouth hymn which testifies the desperate battle of will and -destiny, of generation against death. Poets have exalted the -greatness of America. Hear Walt Whitman, the bard of this advancing -democracy:-- - - "Long, too long, America.... - For who except myself has yet conceived - What your children _en masse_ really are? - They will make the most splendid race the sun - Ever shone upon," - -he cries, in his free rhythms. - - "O mother of a mighty race!" - -said Bryant, celebrating the glories of North America, and the -fastidious Whittier would have the United States excel the Old World -on its own ground: - - "And cast in some diviner mould - Lest the new cycle shame the old." - - -They have reconciled equality with liberty, in manners and in law. -Fair play, the identical chances which the Republic offers her -citizens, in creating schools, in fostering the advance of self-made -men in society, constitutes the firmest foundation of the life of a -republic. Equity and equality prevail above the eager onrush of her -citizens; equality in industrial struggles against monopolies; -equality in the churches in place of intolerance; equality in school -instead of the privileges created by wealth. This persistent -exaltation of liberty matches the sentiment of social discipline. -The Germanic sense of {308} organisation is added to the Anglo-Saxon -individualism; associations multiply and become a gigantic network -spread over the entire face of the country; clubs, leagues, societies -of co-operation and production and philanthropic institutions. - -But this civilisation, in which men of strong vitality win wealth, -invent machines, create new cities, and profess a Christianity full -of energy and accomplishment, has not the majesty of a harmonious -structure. It is the violent work of a people of various origin, -which has not yet been ennobled by the _patina_ of tradition and -time. In the cities which restless workers hastily raise on barren -soil, one can as yet perceive no definitive unity. Race antagonism -disturbs North America; the negroes swarm in the South; Japanese and -Orientals aspire to the conquest of the West. Neo-Saxon civilisation -is still seeking its final form, and in the meantime it is piling up -wealth amid the prevailing indiscipline. "We find in the United -States," says M. André Chevrillon, "a political system, but not a -social organisation." The admirable traditions of Hamilton and -Jefferson have been subjected to the onslaught of new influences, the -progress of plutocracy, the corruption of the administrative -functions, the dissolution of parties, the abuse of the power of -monopolies. The axis of the great nation is becoming displaced -towards the West, and each step in advance marks the triumph of -vulgarity. - -An octopus of a city, New York, might be taken as the symbol of this -extraordinary nation; it displays the vertigo, the audacity, and all -the lack of proportion that characterise American life. Near the -poverty of the Ghetto and the disturbing spectacle of Chinatown you -may admire the wealth of Fifth Avenue and the marble palaces which -plagiarise the architecture of the Tuscan cities. Opposite the -obscure crowds of emigrants herded in the docks you will see the -refined luxury of the plutocratic {309} hotels, and facing the -majestic buildings of Broadway, the houses of the parallel avenues, -which are like the temporary booths of a provincial fair. Confusion, -uproar, instability--these are the striking characteristics of the -North American democracy. Neither irony nor grace nor scepticism, -gifts of the old civilisations, can make way against the plebeian -brutality, the excessive optimism, the violent individualism of the -people. - -All these things contribute to the triumph of mediocrity; the -multitude of primary schools, the vices of utilitarianism, the cult -of the average citizen, the transatlantic M. Homais, and the tyranny -of opinion noted by Tocqueville; and in this vulgarity, which is -devoid of traditions and has no leading aristocracy, a return to the -primitive type of the redskin, which has already been noted by close -observers, is threatening the proud democracy. From the excessive -tension of wills, from the elementary state of culture, from the -perpetual unrest of life, from the harshness of the industrial -struggle, anarchy and violence will be born in the future. In a -hundred years men will seek in vain for the "American soul," the -"genius of America," elsewhere than in the indisciplined force or the -violence which ignores moral laws. - -Among the Anglo-Saxon nations individualism finds its limits in the -existence of a stable home; it may also struggle against the State, -according to the formula consecrated by Spencer, "the man versus the -State." It defends its jealous autonomy from excessive legislation, -from the intervention of the Government in economic conflicts or the -life of the family. And it is precisely the family spirit which is -becoming enfeebled in North America, under the pressure of new social -conditions. The birth-rate is diminishing, and the homes of foreign -immigrants are contributing busily to the formation of the new -generations; the native stock inheriting good racial {310} traditions -would seem to be submerged more and more by the new human tide. A -North American official writes that "the decrease in the birth-rate -will lead to a complete change in the social system of the -Republic."[2] From this will result the abandonment of the -traditional austerity of the race, and the old notions of sacrifice -and duty. The descendants of alien races will constitute the nation -of the future. The national heritage is threatened by the invasion -of Slavs and Orientals, and the fecundity of the negroes; a painful -anxiety weighs upon the destinies of the race. - -The family is unstable, and divorces are increasing at an -extraordinary rate. Between 1870 and 1905 the population doubled; -during the same period the divorces increased sixfold and the -marriages decreased. There is no fixity in the elements of variety, -and the causes of this state of transition will not disappear, as -they are intimately allied with the development of the industrial -civilisation which has brought with it a new ideal of happiness. By -emancipating men and women from the old moral principles it has -modified sexual morality; by accelerating social progress it has -brought an additional bitterness into the social mêlée, a greater -egoism into human conflict. - -Excessive and heterogeneous immigration prevents any final -crystallisation; in the last ten years 8,515,000 strangers have -entered into the great hospitable Union. They came from Germany, -Ireland, Russia, or Southern Italy. It is calculated that the United -States are able to assimilate 150,000 to 200,000 immigrants each -year, but they certainly cannot welcome such an overwhelming host -without anxiety. - -Criminality increases; the elaboration of a {311} common type among -these men of different origin is proceeding more slowly. Doubtless -beneath the shelter of the political federation of the various States -a confused agglomeration of races is forming itself, and this -justifies the query of Professor Ripley: "The Americans of the -North," he says, "have witnessed the disappearance of the Indians and -the buffalo, but can they be certain to-day that the Anglo-Saxons -will survive them?" - -In seeking to imitate the United States we should not forget that the -civilisation of the peoples of the North presents these symptoms of -decadence. - -Europe offers the Latin-American democracies what the latter demand -of Anglo-Saxon America, which was formed in the school of Europe. We -find the practical spirit, industrialism, and political liberty in -England; organisation and education in Germany; and in France -inventive genius, culture, wealth, great universities, and democracy. -From these ruling peoples the new Latin world must indirectly receive -the legacy of Western civilisation. - -Essential points of difference separate the two Americas. -Differences of language and therefore of spirit; the difference -between Spanish Catholicism and the multiform Protestantism of the -Anglo-Saxons; between the Yankee individualism and the omnipotence of -the State natural to the nations of the South. In their origin, as -in their race, we find fundamental antagonisms; the evolution of the -North is slow and obedient to the lessons of time, to the influences -of custom; the history of the southern peoples is full of -revolutions, rich with dreams of an unattainable perfection. - -The people of the United States hate the half-breed, and the impure -marriages of whites and blacks which take place in Southern homes; no -manifestation of Pan-Americanism could suffice to destroy the racial -prejudice as it exists north of Mexico. The {312} half-breeds and -their descendants govern the Ibero-American democracies, and the -Republic of English and German origin entertains for the men of the -tropics the same contempt which they feel for the slaves of Virginia -whom Lincoln liberated. - -In its friendship for them there will always be disdain; in their -progress, a conquest; in their policy, a desire of hegemony. It is -the fatality of blood, stronger than political affinities or -geographical alliances. - -Instead of dreaming of an impossible fusion the Neo-Latin peoples -should conserve the traditions which are proper to them. The -development of the European influences which enrich and improve them, -the purging of the nation from the stain of miscegenation, and -immigration of a kind calculated to form centres of resistance -against any possibilities of conquest, are the various aspects of -this Latin Americanism.[3] - - -[1] The United States as World-Power. - -[2] _Race Improvement in the United States_. Academy of Political -and Social Science, Philadelphia, 1909, pp. 70-1 _et seq_. - -[3] The Mexican sociologist, F. Bulnes, writes in his book, _L'Avenir -des nations Hispano-Americaines_: "It is more than probable that by -1980 the United States will hold a population of 250,000,000 -inhabitants. They will then scarcely be sufficient for the needs of -this population, and will no longer be able to supply the world with -the vast quantity of cereals which they supply to-day. They will -therefore have to choose between a recourse to the methods of -intensive culture and the conquest of the extra-tropical lands of -Latin America, which are fitted, by their conditions, to the easy and -inexpensive production of excellent cereals." - - - - -{313} - -CHAPTER IV - -A POLITICAL EXPERIMENT: CUBA - -The work of Spain--The North American reforms--The future. - - -By turns Spanish and North American, and frequently disturbed by the -conflict of these two Americanisms, the history of the "pearl of the -Antilles" has been a long political experiment. Its result, the -success of one method or the other, will prove the aptitude or the -incapacity of the Latins of America in the art of organising a State -or instituting a Republic. - -The last colony, the final vestige of the vast Spanish Empire -overseas, Cuba still betrayed, towards the end of the nineteenth -century, the political and moral influence of the mother country. -The exuberant and classic land of tobacco and sugar, its tropical -opulence attracted pioneers and colonists. Spain therefore fought to -retain this country, which she granted in recompense of the audacity -of her adventurers and the rapacity of her officials. - -Its geographical situation, its wealth, its traditions, are all -exceptional. The race, imaginative and precocious, is fertile in -poets, heroes, and orators. We see generals of thirty, poetical -swordsmen, divided between their battles and their verses; -irreducible guerillas, orators full of tropical eloquence, passionate -pilgrims, who wander through America relating the miseries of the -Spanish tyranny: a gloomy tale which has made the liberated -democracies attentive {314} to the fate of their captive sister. -Thus Europe used to shudder at the fate of Poland or Ireland. -Astonishingly audacious were these soldiers--Garcia, Maceo, -Gomez--who defended the national liberty to the death; bitter were -the battles, the hand-to-hand conflicts, the wars of skirmishes and -outposts. Of the high lineage of Bolivar, San Martin, and Sucre, the -last of the Liberators, at once poet, statesman, and warrior, a -Gothic knight enamoured of an ideal Dulcinea--the autonomy of -Cuba--Marti was the representative leader of the nation. - -As in the other colonies, freed a century earlier, the action of -Spain in Cuba was at once fertile and limited, useful and disastrous. -What effort could be more paradoxical than that of loading with -fetters, with prohibitions and monopolies, the very cities whose -birth and development was the work of Spain? Authoritatively she -sought to stamp out the longing for liberty, and in this island -consumed by racial hatred--the old hatred of the conquerors and the -Creoles--she responded to every revolutionary demand for independence -by a terrible policy of repression. One of her governors left the -bloody traces of an Alva, the pacificator of Flanders. - -In Madrid a great minister, Canovas del Castillo, an uncompromising -traditionalist, believed that Spain should possess a colonial empire -"to preserve her position in the world." From that time only -energetic action in the revolted islands could save the metropolis. -Already, in 1865, at the beginning of his career, he wished to limit -the representation of Cuba and Porto Rico; and in 1868, when the long -war broke out, he supported the demands of the 9,000 Spaniards who -demanded the rejection of all reform.[1] Once in power, in 1876, -Canovas was still more emphatic; the Cuban problem was to be solved -only by violence. The generosity of Martinez {315} Campos was -followed by the inflexible severity of governors who turned the -island into a vast barracks. The timid liberties granted to Zanjon -were soon suppressed; neither popular elections nor commercial -liberties were allowed, but martial law, and a general to aid the -Spaniards of the island in their war against the Creoles and mulattos. - -In 1878 the first civil war was over, but in 1895 the revolt was so -successful, so popular, so terrible, that Martinez Campos abandoned -the government of the island, feeling himself incapable of "wholesale -shootings and other feats of the same kind." Marti, tragic symbol of -revolt, was killed. General Weyler installed a Reign of Terror; the -island was exhausted. No one could dislodge the guerillas from the -plantations of sugar-cane which served them as refuge. Weyler -ordered a "concentration" of women, children, and the non-combatants -in the fortified cities. Offences of opinion were punished by death, -and absolute submission was demanded. The intervention of the United -States forced Spain to grant a brittle autonomy in 1896. The -assassination of Canovas by an anarchist permitted a reaction against -his uncompromising ideals, and an offer was made of a constitution, -and of elective chambers, without, however, authority over the -governor sent by the metropolis, and a Council of Administration, to -which the Cubans would have access; but economic interests were -ignored and sugar and tobacco were not set free. - -Cuba was awaiting her crusader, her Lohengrin. The United States -filled the _rôle_. Attentive to the affairs of the island, they -negotiated, arranged for intervention with non-official agents, and -New York began to fit out filibustering expeditions. The incidents -of the Yankee campaign against Spain are well known, from the sinking -of the _Maine_ by an explosion in Havana roadstead to the Treaty of -{316} Paris. Once their rival was vanquished would the States give -Cuba her longed-for liberty? Porto Rico was conquered and Cuba -obtained only a mediocre autonomy. - -Here is a difficult question: what was it that impelled the Americans -to undertake the adventure: imperialistic ambition or chivalrous -impulse, as many Cubans still believe? The opinion of their -politicians was always clear; annexation of the island or -preservation of the _status quo_. They feared that Spain might cede -the colony to a power better armed than herself, and Cuba, since the -time of Jefferson, had been reckoned among those countries which a -"law of political gravitation" should eventually give them. An -eminent Brazilian historian and diplomatist, Oliveira Lima, has even -demonstrated that when Bolivar, after convoking the Congress of -Panama in 1826, had thereupon proposed, as the last stage of his vast -epic, to give liberty to Cuba, it was the United States that -prevented him. For they knew that independence would also mean the -enfranchisement of subject races, and they needed slaves for the -proud and wealthy feudal State of Virginia. These tropical -countries, Cuba and Porto Rico, were the promised prey of a future -Federal imperialism, and Spain might remain their guardian until the -States could demand their cession or undertake their conquest. - -Thus the very interest which in 1826 vetoed the independence of Cuba -was later to give the choice between autonomy or war; a dilemma from -which the haughty metropolis could not escape. Between the -commercial brutality of old and this recent Quixotism there is only -an apparent contrast: a hidden logic has guided American policy. If -we consider the end in view--to assure the incontestable control of -the Caribbean Sea, by purchase or annexation of its islands--the -former attitude of a {317} country which had not yet peopled its own -territory, and that provoked to-day by a plethora of wealth and men, -no longer appear irreconcilable. - -As early as 1845 the purchase of Cuba was discussed in Washington. -The famous "Ostend manifesto" (1854) issued by the American -diplomatists, expounded their right to seize the island in case Spain -should refuse to sell it. This resolution to give independence to a -country they despaired of buying was therefore only the end of a long -campaign. - -Certainly in 1898, once peace was signed and Porto Rico conquered, -they respected this independence. But their detachment was -incomplete; they occupied the island, sent governors thither, and -generously reformed the finances, education, and hygiene of the -country. A provisional tutelage, soon followed by the proclamation -of the Republic. Was this the independence of which Marti had -dreamed? The treaty which proclaimed it also limited it; the Platt -amendment found its way into the margin of a liberal text, reserving -to the United States the right of intervention to remedy any possible -anarchy. A strange severity, to demand of an untried tropical -republic, where the hostility of castes was extreme, a serene and -untroubled existence! Eventual military occupation for the purpose -of suppressing revolts would be a dangerous snare to independence. -Intervention in the public affairs of the old Spanish colony, twice -repeated, was both times followed by a campaign of annexation in the -Yellow Press. It is difficult to guess whether Yankee imperialism, -with its ever-increasing appetite, will respect the autonomy of the -island in the face of periodic occupations. It will probably prefer -a protectorate or a final conquest when wearied of the turbulence of -a democracy incapable of self-government. - -Will this beautiful island one day become a State {318} of the -Anglo-Saxon or Federal Union? The accession of the Cubans to this -democracy would cause a disturbance in the political and social world -as profound as that created by Japanese immigration in the Far West. -The plutocrats of the States have too much contempt for half-breeds -and negroes willingly to accept deputies from a country where the -profound admixture of races contains an important African element; a -society which despises the negro cannot wholly agree with one ruled -largely by Spanish half-castes of Indian and African ancestry. The -protectorate would be a step toward the control of the Tropics which -Mr. Benjamin Kidd and other English sociologists imagine to be the -appanage of their race. - -The civilising work of the United States has been admirable. Once -Spain was defeated and her colony conquered, they transformed the -education, finance, and hygiene of the island to prepare the people -for the liberty they ignored. It was four years before they gave it; -four years of pedagogy, of which Brigadier-General Wood, military and -civil chief, was in charge, until on the 20th of May, 1902, "thanks -to the goodwill of President Roosevelt, we were recognised as having -attained our majority."[2] - -Four years of extraordinary activity transformed the exhausted island -into a prosperous country, a reform which we may follow in the -memoirs of General Wood. Two years of endeavour extirpated the -yellow fever, which had prevailed in Havana since 1762. The Yankees -fought the mosquitos, the vehicles of the disease, and their sanitary -works and measures decreased the death-rate from 91.3 per 1,000 in -1898 to 20.63 in 1902. In the same period the deaths among the -American troops fell from 91.03 to 20.68. They also attacked malaria -{319} and tuberculosis, until Havana, as one of them proudly writes, -became one of the healthiest cities of America. - -Pavements, gutters, sewers, the demolition of old buildings and the -construction of new; asylums, hospitals, and prisons, gave the island -an aspect at once modern and sanitary. The fiscal revenues, formerly -badly employed by an unskilful bureaucracy, found useful employment; -dilapidations were noted and a railway statute was passed. The -Yankees opened up new roads, knowing how far the prosperity of the -island depended on them; in 1906, the second year of the occupation, -there were only 610 kilometres of carriage-roads in Cuba, while -Jamaica, with one-fifth the area, had 10,113.[3] - -Communications being thus improved, the sugar industry, on which the -prosperity of the island depends, developed rapidly. The visitors -did not forget to attract immigrants and to reconstruct the ports. - -The government of General Wood installed modern schools in the old -Spanish school-houses, while it built special schools, kindergartens, -and technical colleges in the large towns. - -Under the Spaniards education was obligatory, no doubt, but it was -the Americans who brought a lapsed law into force. Fines punished -parental neglect. A thousand teachers went to Harvard, in the year -1900 alone, sent thither by General Wood to improve their methods of -teaching; new pedagogic methods and a wider culture strongly modified -social and political life. The Americans left ten times as many -schools as they found, and an education adequate to the race and the -Cuban child, who is "impressionable, nervous, and furiously -imaginative." - -Governor Wood requested his country to reduce by one-half the customs -rates upon the coffee, fruits, and {320} sugar which the island -produced, as the basis of a _Zollverein_ profitable to both -countries. He complained, in his memoir, of the indifference of the -wealthy towards the communal and political life, which he wished to -render more active. A law passed by him regulated the elections in -the new Republic. - -The Cubans willingly recognise that the Americans have performed an -excellent work in education and finance, but accuse them of having -provoked in political life a corruption analogous to that of the -leaders or bosses of Tammany Hall, which replaces violence by fraud. -It is difficult to speak of such a matter, but perhaps the reaction -against these dangerous methods was insufficient. In 1906, after -four years of independent life, President Estrada Palma demanded -intervention. It must be recognised that the Americans did not -respond without some uneasiness. Mr. Roosevelt, in a letter to the -Cuban diplomatist Gonzalo de Quesada, gave some admirable advice: "I -solemnly exhort the Cuban patriots," he said, "to form a close union, -to forget their personal differences and ambitions, and to remember -that they have one means of safeguarding the independence of the -Republic: to evade, at all costs, the necessity of foreign -intervention, intended to deliver them from civil war and anarchy." - -Heedless of the voice of the shepherd of the American people, they -asked him to put an end to the long quarrel between the liberals and -the moderates. The Americans occupied the island for a year; Mr. -Taft, the new President, was one of the pacificators. It is -difficult to judge whether the anarchical inhabitants of the island -have gained ground since the departure of the Americans. One of -their most remarkable politicians, Señor Mendez Capote, believes that -in Cuba--and more generally {321} in any very young country where the -government has need of an unfailing authority in order to check -discord--representatives of one or both parties ought to belong to -the Cabinet in order to render political life less changeable and to -decrease its contrasts.[4] This organisation is impossible in a -democracy which passes alternately from revolt to dictatorship. - -Some Cubans, satisfied with the material progress effected, would -prefer annexation. Others, and among them one of the most remarkable -writers of the country, Señor Jesus Castellanos, are never tired, -remembering their happy intervention, of calling the United States, -"the great sister Republic." Certainly the States have given Cuba -autonomy, but was it not a treacherous gift? _Timeo Danaos et dona -ferentes_. The historic interest of Cuba for the Americans is to-day -increased by imperialistic ambitions. A Harvard professor, Mr. -Coolidge, writes in a book already cited: "A glance at the map is -enough to show us how important the island is to the United States. -Of great value by virtue of its natural resources and its temperate -climate, it is strategically the key to the Gulf of Mexico, where the -Mississippi Valley terminates facing the Caribbean Sea and the future -Panama Canal. Its situation is comparable to that of Crete in the -Eastern Mediterranean." - -The danger is therefore serious; the island is already in the lion's -mouth. Only a skilful policy can keep the hope of deliverance alive. -The servitude offered by the modern Cyclops is only a gilded pill; -and to swallow it the merchants of the island would willingly forget -their national pride. Analysing Rodo's book, Señor Castellanos has -denounced the excessive utilitarianism of these men, without -idealism, and full of a cupidity and gross materialism, which makes -any collective effort towards national unity {322} impossible. Poets -and dreamers, the Cubans would need to undergo some prodigious change -before one could interest them in action, before they could -understand in the medley of political conflict what is really in the -interests of the country; before they could establish political -solidarity in the place of anarchy, and temper their easy confidence -in the Yankee by a necessary and self-preserving scepticism. Could -they ever transform their intellectual gifts into a less showy but -more efficacious capacity for conflict and discipline? Will they -acquire a sense of reality? Cuba should serve the rest of Latin -America as a kind of experimental object-lesson. She suffers from -the characteristic malady of the race, the divorce between -intelligence and will. - -She opposes the Anglo-Saxon invasion, being still thoroughly Spanish, -her deliverance being a matter of yesterday, but American also by the -mixture of the two races, the conquerors and the vanquished, by the -usual Latin virtues and defects. The loss of her independence would -be a painful lesson to the republics of Central America, and to -Mexico even, where anarchy is paving the way for servitude. The -United States offer peace at the cost of liberty. The alternatives -are independence or wealth, material progress or tradition. The -choice between dignity and a future is a painful one. Only an -abundant immigration under benevolent tyrants strong enough to -enforce a lasting peace, only a new orientation of the national life, -setting business and industry and rural life before politics, could -save the country from the painful fate which seems to be hers. - -A fresh intervention, followed doubtless by annexation, would -demonstrate the racial incapacity for self-government--a mournful -experience. The successive rule of Anglo-Saxons and Creoles would -render obvious the superiority of the former in the matter of -administration, economics, and politics. - - -[1] See _Como acabó la dominación, de España en America_, E. Piñeyro, -Paris. - -[2] Enrique Collazo, _Cuba intervenida_, Havana, 1910, p. 93. - -[3] _Informe del Gobernador Charles E. Magoon_, Havana, 1909, pp. 26, -39. - -[4] Cited in _Cuban Pacification_, Washington, 1907, p. 506. - - - - -{323} - -CHAPTER V - -THE JAPANESE PERIL - -The ambitions of the Mikado--The _Shin Nippon_ in Western -America--Pacific invasion--Japanese and Americans. - - -Facing the United States in the mysterious Orient is an extensive -empire which is sending its legions of pacific invaders into the New -World. Anticipating the Japanese victories, the German Emperor -warned a somnolent Europe of the terrible Yellow Peril; the peril of -hordes like those of Genghis Khan, which would destroy the treasures -of Western civilisation. This danger, after the defeat of Russia and -the formation of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, has been felt in -America from Vancouver and California down to Chili. - -To dominate the Pacific is the ambition both of the North American -Republic and the Asiatic Monarchy. - -Before ruling America the Japanese, exposed to the hostility of the -Californians, will fight in the North the great battle which will -decide their fate. The Monroe doctrine, which liberated Latin -America from the tutelage of the Holy Alliance, is perhaps destined -to protect it also against the menace of the East. The Anglo-Saxons -will not tolerate the foundation of Japanese colonies on the southern -coasts of America, and to prevent them they are overcoming the -obstacle of the Isthmus: are digging a canal, {324} fortifying it, -and increasing their navy. The United States understand that their -future will baffle Japan, and by the acquisition of the Philippines -they have become an Asiatic power. They defend the integrity of -China, negotiate peace between Russia and Japan, demand the -neutrality of the Manchurian railway, and claim a financial share in -the Chinese loans and undertakings of material civilisation. The -policy of Mr. Taft tends to ensure the American control of the -Chinese finances. - -The industry of North America needs outlets in Asia, because South -America is still a commercial fief of Europe. On the other hand, the -Japanese population is increasing at such an excessive rate that -emigration is a necessary phenomenon for that country; a people of -mariners hemmed in by the ocean naturally looks for fruitful -adventures by sea. Moreover, the State stimulates emigration; -socialism is causing it anxiety, and the dense population of -proletariats is producing implacable caste antagonisms. Anarchists, -brilliant propagandists of European doctrines, are spreading their -convictions among the multitude which vegetates upon a -poverty-stricken soil. Industrialism, and the general transformation -of the nation, renders the protest of the disinherited still more -bitter. - -This current of emigration is neither chaotic nor fruitless. Even -more than the German the Japanese is an emissary of imperialistic -design. He does not become absorbed into the nation in which he -lives; he does not become naturalised under the protection of -hospitable laws; he preserves his worship of the Mikado, his national -traditions, and his noble devotion to the dead. - -Japan aspires to political domination and economic hegemony in Korea -and Northern China. The Japanese have annexed Korea, and flying the -Imperial standard upon this peninsula they have become a {325} -continental power. They have received from ancient China lessons in -wisdom, artists and philosophers, and to-day the initiate seeks to -rule the initiator. Japan is transforming China and teaching her the -methods of the West; the philosophy of Heidelberg, the arts of Paris. -In Manchuria, despite the ambitions of the United States, she -pretends to supremacy for her industries and her banks. - -"Asia for the Asiatics" is the Japanese cry, as "America for the -Americans" is that of the people of the States. - -Neither of these peoples respects the autonomy of foreign nations. -The United States are conquering Asia economically, and the Japanese, -the defenders of Oriental integrity, are slowly invading the Far West -of America. The Philippines for the United States and Hawaii for -Japan are the advance posts of commercial expansion on the one hand -and imperialism on the other. - -We are then face to face with a struggle of races, a clash of -irreconcilable interests. In the proud northern democracy we note an -uneasiness which reveals itself by the jealous exclusion of the -Japanese from the life of the West, and by immovable racial -prejudices. The American General Homer Lee, in a pessimistic book, -_The Valor of Ignorance_, states that a heterogeneous nation in which -foreigners constitute half the population can never conquer Japan. -He foresees that the island empire, having eliminated its two rivals, -Russia and China, by successive wars, will vanquish the United States -and occupy vast territories in the American North-West. Only -alliance with England, "to-day allied with the destinies of Japan," -could save the Republic from subjection to her Oriental rivals. - -Such prophecies, however, do not assume a general character. While -waiting for the future war the struggle for the Pacific between the -two powers {326} concerned remains acute. The Japanese emigrants -halt at Hawaii, assimilate American methods, and resume their exodus -toward the Californian Eldorado. In the islands they are electors; -they prevail by force of numbers; they change their professions or -industries with remarkable adaptability, and then return to Japan, or -remain, and retain their national feeling inviolate. In California -they follow humble callings; they are secretly preparing themselves -for conquest. Numberless legions thus arrive from the Orient; they -are proud, adventurous, speculative; they aspire to economic -supremacy. - -In California, that country of gold and adventure, the problem of -Japanese immigration is becoming more complex. M. Louis Aubert -explains that in this State the Japanese constitute a necessary -defence against the tyranny of the trades unions.[1] They accept an -absurd wage and furnish the financial oligarchy with useful arms and -sober stomachs. When the associations of working men demand -increased salaries and threaten the greedy plutocrats with strikes or -socialistic demands, the Japanese passively submit to the iron law of -capitalism. If the interests of the race demand their expulsion from -California, the interests of the capitalist class demand their -retention. The instinct of the democracy which supports the -civilising mission of the white man, "the white man's burden," is -stronger than its utilitarian egoism. The immigrant is accused of -immodesty or servility. The energy, frugality, self-respect, -triumphant patience, and hostile isolation of the Japanese in Hawaii -and California cause the Americans much uneasiness. - -Repulsed in the north, the conquering Japanese take refuge on the -long coast-line of South America. They do not renounce California -and its admirable soil, but they prefer to forget the disdain of the -{327} North, to compromise with that haughty democracy, and prepare -in silence for the future conflict. - -They are, as a race, transformed; they have forsaken their own -history in the midst of the millennial and ecstatic Orient, and this -renovation has resulted in an intense ambition of expansion. The -Japan which apes Europe does not overlook the teachings of -Anglo-Saxon imperialism. Its statesmen, disciples of Disraeli and -Chamberlain, wish to found an immense empire under the tutelage of -the Asiatic England, insular and proud as the United Kingdom itself. -Count Okuma stated that South America was comprised in the sphere of -influence to which the Japanese Empire may legitimately pretend. Is -not this the very language of the conquerors of Europe, for whom such -"spheres of influence" pave the way for protectorates, tutelage, or -annexation? "Western America," write the Japanese journals, "is a -favourable ground for Japanese emigration. Persevering emigrants -might there build up a new Japan, _Shin Nippon_." It is the -identical object of the Germans in Southern Brazil; the creation of a -Transatlantic _Deutschtum_. - -The Japanese emigrate to Canada, there to establish a base for the -invasion of the United States; they do the same in Mexico, and settle -even in Chili; but Peru is the favourite soil of these imperialistic -adventurers. To a statesman here is a _Shin Nippon_ whose future is -assured, a new Hawaii. Its climate resembles that of Japan. "In -Peru, as in the greater part of South America, the government is -weak, and if energy be displayed it cannot refuse to accept Japanese -immigrants," writes a journal of Tokio. "In this hospitable country -the Japanese could receive education in the public schools, acquire -lands, and exploit mines." It is necessary, says an Osaka -news-sheet, that these immigrants should not return to Japan after -amassing a fortune; {328} they must remain in Peru and there create a -_Shin Nippon_.[2] The Japanese immigrants are reminded that already -there are 60,000 Chinese in the sugar plantations of Peru, and that -this republic is one of the richest on the Pacific coast. A minute -explanation is given of the agricultural products which can be raised -in Mexico, Chili, and Peru, and what are the privileges granted to -immigrants in these countries; but these comprehensive statements do -not trouble American statesmen. The very date of the first Japanese -exodus toward the Eldorado of the _conquistadors_ has become the -classic anniversary of the commencement of a new era; "the -thirty-second of the Meijie," of the regeneration of the Empire. -According to recent statistics 6,000 Japanese are at work in Peru, in -the plantations of sugar-cane, the rubber-forests, or the -cotton-fields; following the tracks of the Chinese, they fill the -lesser callings and defeat the mulattos and half-breeds in the -economic struggle. New fleets of steamers carry these persistent -legions under the Imperial flag. The State protects the navigation -companies which run between Japan and South America, and although the -commerce thus favoured is more profitable to Peru and Chili than to -Japan, the far-sighted Mikado encourages relations which are not -particularly favourable to-day, but which permit of the development -of Japanese influence all along the Pacific coast, and the creation -of centres of Japanese population and influence in Mexico, Peru, and -Chili.[3] The Japanese vessels discharge their human freight at -Callao and Valparaiso. The soil, which lacks Chinese serfs, is thus -fertilised by Japanese immigrants, and the agricultural oligarchy -{329} of Chili and Peru is satisfied. Brazil itself attracts these -emigrants, replacing the fertile Italian invasion by these sober -workers of a hostile race, and is preparing the way for the -establishment on Brazilian soil of two groups of identical -tendencies, but inimical: one Japanese, the other German. - -Japanese spies have been captured in Ecuador and Mexico. At the -centennial fêtes of Mexico and the Argentine in 1910 a Japanese -cruiser and an ambassador of the Mikado brought fraternal messages -from the Orient. Uneasy on account of the North American peril, -certain writers of the Latin American democracies entertain a certain -amount of confidence in the sympathies of Japan; perhaps they even -count upon an alliance with the Empire of the Rising Sun. But we -cannot see, with the brilliant Argentine writer Manuel Ugarte, that -Latin diplomacy must henceforth count upon Japan, because the -hostility between that nation and the United States might be -successfully exploited at the proper moment. In the commercial -battles for the domination of the Pacific Japan does not support the -autonomy of Latin America; her statesmen and publicists consider that -Peru, Chili, and Mexico are spheres of Japanese expansion. We have -cited conclusive opinions on this subject, and they contradict the -optimism of the Argentine sociologist. Apart from the emigrants and -the companies which encourage them the projects and designs of Count -Okuma, leader of the Japanese imperialists, are manifested in the -nationalist Press, which sometimes betrays more than it intends. -To-day, in the face of the unanimous opinion of these journals, we -cannot deny that Japan has ambitious designs upon America. The -future war will be born of the clash of two doctrines, of two -imperialisms, of the ideal of Okuma and the Monroe doctrine. -Victorious, the Japanese would invade Western America and convert the -Pacific into a vast closed {330} sea, closed to foreign ambitions, -_mare nostrum_, peopled by Japanese colonies.[4] - -The Japanese hegemony would not be a mere change of tutelage for the -nations of America. In spite of essential differences the Latins -oversea have certain common ties with the people of the States: a -long-established religion, Christianity, and a coherent, European, -occidental civilisation. Perhaps there is some obscure fraternity -between the Japanese and the American Indians, between the yellow men -of Nippon and the copper-coloured Quechuas, a disciplined and sober -people. But the ruling race, the dominant type of Spanish origin, -which imposes the civilisation of the white man upon America, is -hostile to the entire invading East. - -The geography of the Oriental Empire in no sense recalls that of -America; there are neither wide plains, nor mighty rivers, nor -fertile and luxurious forests. Narrow horizons, gentle hills, minute -islands, closed seas, and the strange flora of the harmonious insular -landscape: lotuses, cryptomera, bamboos, chrysanthemums, dwarf trees. -Beliefs, manners, and customs all differ radically from the American. -"The Europeans," writes Lafcadio Hearn, "build with a view to -duration, the Japanese with a view to instability." A keen sentiment -of all that is fugitive in life, of the anguish caused by the -incessant flux and mobility of things, causes men to love ephemeral -apparitions. Buddhism speaks of the fluidity of life. Japanese art -strives to fix passing impressions; the dew, the pale light of the -moon, the fleeting tints of twilight, the provisional {331} temples, -the small houses of wood, the rice-paper _shoji_, on which the very -shadows of those within are vague and momentary. There is nothing -persevering in Japanese life; the inhabitant is a nomad and nature is -variable. Impassive Buddhas, seated on their blue lotus flowers, -contemplate the irresistible current of appearances. Mobility, and a -religious sense of becoming: these would be elements of dissolution -in a divided America. - -Powerful and traditional, the Japanese civilisation would weigh too -heavily upon the Latin democracies, mixed as they are. Bushido, the -cult of honour and fidelity to one's ancestors, is the basis of an -intense nationalism; the contempt for death, the pride of an insular -people, the subjection of the individual to the family and the native -land, and the asceticism of the _samurai_, constitute so formidable a -superiority that in the conflict between half-breed America and stoic -Japan the former would lose both its autonomy and its traditions. - - -[1] Louis Aubert, _Americains et Japonais_, Paris, 1908, pp. 151 _et -seq_. - -[2] M. Aubert cites these and other extracts. - -[3] The Peruvian imports into Japan were £101,000 in 1909; the -Japanese imports into Peru only £4,400. There is a commercial treaty -between Chili and Japan. - -[4] Perhaps the emigration of Orientals towards the two Americas will -be arrested, for there is a Chinese Far West which is slowly becoming -peopled. Japan aspires to assure herself of the domination of -Manchuria, and is sending colonists to Korea, the annexed peninsula. -The excess of the population of China and Japan tends naturally to -occupy territories in which everything is favourable--climate, -religion, and race. - - - - -{333} - -BOOK VII - -_PROBLEMS_ - -Serious problems arise from a consideration of the Latin democracies, -which are in the full tide of development. They are divided, in -spite of common traditions, and they comprise races whose marriage -has not been precisely happy. In spite of the resources of the soil, -and its fabulous wealth, these States live by loans. Their political -life is not organised; the parties obey leaders who bring to the -struggle for power neither an ideal nor a programme of concrete -reforms. The population of these States is so small that America may -be called a desert. - -We will consider all these problems minutely: problems of unity, of -race, of population, of financial conditions, and of politics. - - - - -{335} - -CHAPTER I - -THE PROBLEM OF UNITY - -The foundations of unity: religion, language, and similarity of -development--Neither Europe, nor Asia, nor Africa presents this moral -unity in the same degree as Latin America--The future groupings of -the peoples: Central America, the Confederation of the Antilles, -Greater Colombia, the Confederation of the Pacific, and the -Confederation of La Plata--Political and economical aspects of these -unions--The last attempts at federation in Central America--The -Bolivian Congress--The A.B.C.--the union of the Argentine, Brazil, -and Chili. - - -A professor of the American university of Harvard, Mr. Coolidge, -writes that if there is one thing that proves the backwardness of the -political spirit of the Latin Americans, it is precisely the -existence of so many hostile democracies on a continent which is in -so many respects uniform. With so many points in common, with the -same language, the same civilisation, the same essential interests, -they persist in maintaining the political subdivisions due to the -mere accidents of their history.[1] And he advises in all sincerity -that these inimical nations should associate themselves in powerful -groups, a means of defence which no nation could oppose, neither the -United States nor Europe. If, for example, Bolivia, Uruguay, and -Paraguay were to unite with the Argentine Republic; if the old United -States of Colombia were re-established, and if, as formerly, -Venezuela and Ecuador, with perhaps Peru, were to form a -confederation; if the republics of Central America were {336} at last -to succeed in forming a durable confederation, and were perhaps to -join Mexico--then Latin America would consist only of a few great -States, each of which would be sufficiently important to assume by -right an enviable position in the modern world, and to fear no -aggression on the part of any foreign power. - -The Latin Republics pay no attention to this wise counsel; we observe -among them a tendency toward further disagreement, toward an atomic -disintegration. Originally a different and a wider movement, in the -sense of the close union of similar nationalities, did manifest -itself. The contrary principle prevails to-day, and it results in -the separation of complementary provinces and the conflict of sister -nations. - -During a century of isolated political development, and under the -influence of territory and climate, divergent characteristics have -manifested themselves in the nations of America. Mexico is without -the tropical eloquence we find in Colombia; the Chilian inflexibility -contrasts with the rich imagination of the Brazilians; the Argentines -have become a commercial people; Chili is a bellicose republic; -Bolivia has an astute policy, the work of a slow and practical -people, which has given it a new strength; Peru persists in its -dreams of generous idealism; Central America remains rent by an -anarchy which seems incurable; Venezuela is still inspired by an -empty "lyricism." Some of these republics are practical peoples -governed by active plutocracies; others are given to dreaming and are -led by presidents suffering from neurosis. In the Tropics we find -civil war and idleness; on the cold table-lands, in the temperate -plains, and in the maritime cities, wealth and peace. - -But such divergences do not form an essential separation; they cannot -destroy the age-long work of laws, religion, institutions, tradition, -and language. {337} Unity possesses indestructible foundations, as -old and as deep-rooted as the race itself. - -From Mexico to Chili the religion is the same; the intolerance of -alien cults is the same; so are the clericalism, the -anti-clericalism, the fanaticism, and the superficial free thought; -the influence of the clergy in the State, upon women, and the -schools; the lack of true religious feeling under the appearance of -general belief. - -To this first very important factor of unity we must add the powerful -and permanent influence of the Spanish language, whose future is -bound up with the future of the Latin Transatlantic peoples. -Sonorous and arrogant, this language expresses, better than any -other, the vices and the grandeur of the American mind; its rhetoric -and its heroism, its continuity of spirit from the feats of the Cid -to the Republican revolutions. The Spanish tongue is an intimate -bond of union between the destinies of the metropolis and those of -its ancient colonies, and it separates the two Americas, one being -the expression of the Latin and the other of the Anglo-Saxon genius. - -The language is always to a certain extent transformed in these -democracies; provincialisms and Americanisms abound; the popular -tongue differs from the autocratic Castilian. Don Rufino Cuervo -predicts that Spanish will undergo essential alterations in America, -as was the case with Latin at the time of the Roman decadence. An -Argentine writer, Señor Ernesto Quesada, believes that a national -language is in process of formation on the banks of the Plata, and -that the barbarisms of the popular speech are forecasts of a new -tongue. In Chili an exalted patriot has upheld the originality of -the Chilian race and language in an anonymous book, claiming that -they derive from the Gothic. Thus is the effect of the national -spirit exaggerated. Among the Ibero-American republics there is a -profound and general {338} resemblance in the pronunciation and the -syntax of the language; the same linguistic defects even are to be -found in all. The Spanish of the Peninsula loses its majesty -overseas; it is no longer the language, lordly in its beauty, solemn -in its ornaments, of Granada, of Mariana, of Perez de Guzman. -Familiar, declamatory, pronounced with a caressing accent, the -Castilian of America is uniform from North to South. - -More effectual than religion and language the identity of race -explains the similarity of the American peoples, and constitutes a -promise of lasting unity. The native race, the Spanish race, and the -negro race are everywhere mingled, in similar proportions, from the -frontier of the United States to the southern limits of the -continent. On the Atlantic seaboard European immigration, an influx -of Russians, Italians, and Germans, has given the supremacy to the -white race, but this influence is limited to small belts of land, -when we consider the vast area of the continent. - -A single half-caste race, with here the negro and there the Indian -predominant over the conquering Spaniard, obtains from the Atlantic -to the Pacific. There is a greater resemblance between Peruvians and -Argentines, Colombians and Chilians, than between the inhabitants of -two distant provinces of France, such as Provence and Flanders, -Brittany and Burgundy, or between the Italian of the north, positive -and virile, and the lazy and sensual Neapolitan, or between the North -American of the Far West and the native of New England. The slight -provincial differences enable us the better to understand the unity -of the continent. - -This identity explains the monotonous history of America. A -succession of military periods and industrial periods, of revolts and -dictatorships; perpetual promises of political restoration; the -tyranny of {339} ignorant adventurers, and complicated and delusive -legislation. - -It is in the great crises of its history that the essential unity of -the race is revealed. The Wars of Independence were a unanimous -movement, an expression of profound solidarity. In 1865, after half -a century of isolation, the democracies of the Pacific once more -united to oppose Spain's attempt at reconquest. Soldiers of -different nations, who had already fought in bygone battles, but -against each other, now fought side by side for the common liberty. -The same unity of inspiration has brought the nations together in -opposition to many projects of conquest: the expedition of Flores -against Ecuador, of France against Mexico, and the Anglo-French -alliance against Rosas. At the second Hague Congress in 1907 Latin -America revealed to the Western world the importance of her wealth -and the valour of her men, and supported her ideal of arbitration; to -the Monroe doctrine she opposed the doctrine of Drago, and, without -preliminary understanding, asserted her unity. - -No other continent offers so many reasons for union, and herein lies -the chief originality of Latin America. - -In Europe states and races are in conflict, and the unstable -equilibrium is maintained only by means of alliances. Religions, -political systems, traditions, and languages differ. History is -merely a succession of turbulent hegemonies: of Spain, England, -France, and Germany. We find artificial nations, like Austria; -unions of democratic and theocratic peoples, like the Franco-Russian -Alliance; rival empires of the same race, like England and Germany; -political alliances of alien races, like Germany and Italy; and the -dispersion of peoples painfully seeking to recover their lost unity, -like the Poles, the Irish, and the Slavs. The federation of Europe -is a Utopian dream. - -{340} - -Africa is not yet autonomous; it is a vast group of enslaved peoples -of primitive races, colonised by the great European powers. There -the Anglo-Saxon genius is seeking to establish a political union -between English and Dutch, and one day, perhaps, the empire dreamed -of by Cecil Rhodes will stretch from Cairo to the Cape. But the -unity of Africa is impossible; for the colonists come to the Dark -Continent as conquerors, as the representatives of hostile interests; -they can but quarrel over Morocco, Tripoli, and the Congo. Oceania -possesses only a partial unity in the Australian commonwealth, the -work of England. In Asia it is still more impossible to guess whence -a future unity might arise. Mussulmans and Buddhists share India; -Japan has won only an ephemeral superiority; China retains all her -irreducible independence; in Manchuria and Korea Russian and Asiatic -interests are opposed; in Turkestan, Persia, and Tibet the conflicts -of race and religion are enough to destroy any hope of union. - -In America and in America only the political problem is relatively -simple. Unity is there at once a tradition and a present necessity, -yet in spite of this fact the disunion of the Latin democracies -persists. - -Forty years ago Alberdi thought it necessary, and believed it -possible, to redraw the map of America. - -To-day the Latin nations overseas are less plastic; the frontiers -seem too definitely established, and prejudices too deeply rooted to -allow of such a recombination; but the formation of groups of nations -is no less urgent. If the unity of the continent by means of a vast -federation in the Anglo-Saxon manner seems impossible, it is none the -less necessary to group the Latin-American nations in a durable -fashion, according to their affinities. While respecting the -inevitable geographical inequalities which give certain peoples an -evident superiority over others, and the no less inevitable economic -inequalities which {341} create natural unions, it would still be -possible to found a stable assemblage of nations, a Continent. - -There is a spontaneous hierarchy in the Latin New World; there are -superior and inferior democracies, maritime nations and inland -states. Paraguay will always be inferior to the Argentine Republic; -Uruguay to Brazil; Bolivia to Chili; Ecuador to Peru; Guatemala to -Mexico; as much from the point of wealth as in population and -influence. The preservation of the autonomy of republics which -differ so greatly in the extent and situation of their territories -can only be removed by federative grouping. To oppress and colonise -these countries is the desire of all imperialists, no matter whence -they come; but the peace of America demands another solution; which -is, not the synthesis which some one powerful State might enforce, -but the co-operation of free organisms. By grouping themselves about -more advanced peoples the secondary nations might succeed in -preserving their threatened autonomy. - -Central America, exhausted by anarchy, may aspire to unity; these -five small nations maintain a precarious independence in the face of -the United States. Until 1842 Central America was only one State, -and subsequent attempts at unification proved that this was not -merely the artificial creation of its politicians. When the Panama -Canal has divided the two Americas, and increased the power of the -United States, these nations, together with Mexico, might form a true -Spanish advance-guard in the North. - -Moreover, the free islands of the Caribbean Sea might be united in a -Confederation of the Antilles, according to the noble dream of -Hostos. Greater Colombia might be reconstituted, with Ecuador, New -Granada, and Venezuela. Their greatest leaders have desired their -union, as a preventive of indefinite and fractional division and -internal discord. On the basis {342} of common traditions, and for -important geographical reasons, these three nations might form an -imposing Confederacy. Once the Canal is open, this group of peoples, -stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, on the northern -extremity of the continent, would form a massive Latin rampart, a -country capable of absorbing European emigration and of opposing to -Anglo-Saxon invasion the resistance of a vast populated and united -territory. - -Bolivia, the inland republic, deprived of her coast-line by Chili, -has already been twice united to Peru; in 1837, under the authority -of Santa-Cruz, and in 1879, to oppose the supremacy of Chili on the -Pacific. What should henceforth separate it from a people to which -it is united by so many historical and economic ties, and a -similitude of territory and race from Cuzco to Oruro? Chili and Peru -will be either two perpetual enemies, or two peoples drawn together -by a useful understanding. Their geographical proximity, their -mutually complementary products--the tropical fruits of Peru and the -products of the temperate zones of Chili--might contribute to bring -them together. Have we not here an actual economic harmony? In the -moral domain the very causes which have engendered hatred between -Chili and Peru, from the time of Portales to that of Pinto, might -equally prove to be the elements of future friendship. Peru, -impoverished by the Chilian conquest, and deprived of her deposits of -nitre, would no longer be the victim of the Chilian greed of gold, -nor the hatred of a poor colony for the elegant vice-kingdom. Chili -is wealthier than Peru, and her people have more energy and more -will-power, although they may have less imagination, less nobility of -character, and less eloquence. The Peruvian vivacity and grace may -be contrasted with the prosaic deliberation of Chili; the anarchy of -the one country with the political stability of the other; the -idealism {343} of Peru with the common-sense of Chili. Physically -and morally these two countries complete one another. The economic -necessities of each might form the permanent basis of a possible -alliance. The Confederation of the Pacific, formed by Peru, Bolivia, -and Chili, would be a safeguard against future wars in America. -Unhappily Chili professes and seeks to enforce a superiority founded -upon victory, just as, when the German Empire was confederated, -victorious and warlike Prussia enforced her superiority over artistic -Bavaria. - -The Confederation of La Plata, the heir to the traditions of the -colonial era, might be formed of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. -Rosas did seek to create this great federal organisation. During the -course of the century Uruguay has extended her sympathies alternately -to the Argentine and to Brazil, and Paraguay, during a period of epic -grandeur, defended her isolation. The union of these republics was -prevented by national rivalities and the ambitions of their -_caudillos_, but it will surely be effected in the future under the -pressure of the power of Argentina. It is true that Uruguay has only -too definite an originality in the matter of intellect, from the -point of view of liberalism and education, but the federation of the -future would not be the imposition of a harsh hegemony of one nation -over others, but rather the co-operation of republics with equal -rights which had at last understood the poverty of their isolated -condition. Paraguay, remote and concealed, ruled sometimes by a -Jesuitical and now by a civil dictatorship, has need of a place in -such a vast confederation of cultivated peoples. - -These groups of nations will thus form a new America, organic and -powerful. Brazil, with her immense territory and dense population; -the Confederation of La Plata; the Confederation of the Pacific; -Greater Colombia: these will finally {344} establish the continental -equilibrium so anxiously desired. In the North, Mexico and Central -America and the Confederation of the Antilles would form three Latin -States to balance the enveloping movement of the Anglo-Saxons. -Instead of twenty divided republics we should thus have seven -powerful nations. We should have not the vague Union of which all -the Utopian professors since Bolivar have spoken, but a definite -grouping and confederation of peoples united by real economic, -geographical, and political ties. - -To realise these fusions there are both economic and political -methods. Hasty conventions would be powerless to uproot the hatreds -and the narrow conceptions of patriotism peculiar to the American -peoples. The organisation of the continent should be the work of -thinkers, statesmen, and captains of industry, a work fortified by -time and history. To the tradition of discord we must oppose -another, the tradition of union. - -A series of partial commercial treaties, navigation treaties, railway -systems, customs unions, and international congresses (like those -recently held at Montevideo and Santiago) may all be indicated as -means of realising unity. The railways above all will create a new -continent; for isolation and lack of population are the enemies of -American federation. - -To-day these peoples do not know one another. Paris is their -intellectual capital, where their poets, thinkers, and statesmen -meet. In America everything makes for separation: forests, plains, -and mountains. What does Venezuela know of Chili, Peru of Mexico, -Colombia of the Argentine? Even in the case of neighbouring nations -the political leaders do not know one another. The psychology of -neighbouring peoples is a mystery; whence traditional errors and -disastrous wars. American journalism is ignorant of nothing in -European life--the sessions of the Duma, the ministerial crises of -{345} Roumania, the nobility of the Gotha Almanac, the scandals of -Berlin; but of the public life of the American nations it publishes -only the vaguest and most erroneous news. By stimulating the love of -travel and building railroads these peoples would escape from an -isolation so perilous. "Every line of railroad which crosses a -frontier," said Gladstone, "prepares the way for universal -confederation." The Yankees have understood this, which is why they -are preparing to build a great Pan-American railway to unite the two -Americas under their financial sceptre. - -The line which has recently united the two capitals of the -South--Santiago and Buenos-Ayres--has contributed to the formation of -a solid understanding between Chili and the Argentine. That which -will unite Lima and Buenos-Ayres in the near future will bring the -culture of the Argentine to the Bolivian table-lands, as far as -Cuzco, the centre of Inca tradition; it will draw together the -seaboard populations of the two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific, -and will prove a powerful agent of civilisation and unity. The great -rivers of the Amazonian basin from the Putumayo to the Beni, the -affluents of the Rio de la Plata, the Magdalena and the Orinoco, -united by new railroads, will also contribute to the continental -unity by multiplying international relations. One may well repeat -the celebrated phrase, that to govern is to lay rails. Railways -vanquish barbarism; they attract the stranger, people the desert, -civilise the native. Political organisation and internal peace -correspond with the development of the means of communication. With -the appearance of the rails the _caudillos_ lose their influence, and -a double transformation is effected; in the interior by the -civilising action of commingled interests, and at the exterior by the -new relations which the multiplication of railways involves. - -Customs unions in Germany created the Imperial {346} unity; Mr. -Chamberlain thinks that a _Zollverein_ would increase the power of -the British Empire. The economic grouping of nations prepares the -way for future confederations. The frequent congresses which unify -law and jurisprudence, and bring together politicians, men of letters -and scientists, all tend to the same result. To increase the number -of these assemblies, to hold them in different capitals of the -continent, and to replace the Pan-American Congresses, whose plans -are somewhat indefinite, by racial Latin-American Congresses, would -be equally to the profit of the economic and intellectual unity of -the continent, and the harmony of its politics and its laws. An -undivided, uniform American law,[2] a single monetary system, a -similar policy in respect of protectionism and free trade, the -unification of methods of teaching, and the equivalence of academic -diplomas and university degrees, are questions that might be -discussed at these general assemblies. Each nation would have -ministers in the other republics, who would be at once intellectual -emissaries and propagandists, while to-day American peoples who send -ministers to Austria or to Switzerland have no accredited -representatives in the capitals of adjacent states. The national -ambitions which satisfy our politicians to-day would be replaced by a -more ample and original design, embracing the future of an entire -continent, as was the case a century ago. - -In short, we should neglect no form of co-operation--conventions, -travel, diplomatic labours, periodical congresses, commercial -treaties, and partial groups of nations. Nothing but a disastrous -weakness can perpetuate the present division of the Latin {347} -peoples in the face of the unity of the United States. - -The nations of the South are not unaware of this necessity, and after -a century of independence they are seeking to reconstitute the -ancient unions. Central America, disturbed by periodic wars, is -endeavouring to create a Confederation. In 1895 a treaty between -Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador formed the Republic of Central -America; only Costa Rica and Guatemala held aloof from this union. -In 1902 all these nations, with the exception of Guatemala, accepted -a convention of arbitration. In 1905 the presidents of the five -republics met at Corinth in order to honour the work of Morazan and -Rufino Barrios; spontaneously, or at the instance of the United -States and Mexico, they signed various treaties intended to realise -the unity of the sister nations. A Central American Pedagogic -Institute was created, and a "Bureau of the Five Republics," with the -same object of unification. In 1907, after nine different conflicts -in the interval, a conference of these same nations was assembled at -Washington. On this occasion a tribunal of arbitration for Central -America was installed, and the neutrality of Honduras was recognised. -This tribunal, which sits at Cartago, in Costa-Rica, is to judge the -conflicts between states and the diplomatic claims of the governments -and of individuals. Moreover, the Republics of Central America have -agreed to a declaration which provides that they will recognise no -government which has been enforced by a revolution or a _coup -d'État_, and that they will not intervene in the political movements -of neighbouring countries. - -The Court of Arbitration thus established had already, in 1909, -settled differences between Salvador and Honduras, and between -Guatemala and Nicaragua, by rejecting the pretentions of Honduras in -the one case and of Nicaragua in the other.[3] In {348} short, the -United States and Mexico are leading these peoples, who used to be in -a condition of perpetual discord, towards the unity necessary to -their progress. - -A Congress met recently (1911) at Caracas, which was attended by the -representatives of the states liberated by Bolivar--Venezuela, New -Granada, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. This was a truly Bolivian -assembly in honour of the national hero. The object of this Congress -was to reconstitute Greater Colombia with the three Republics which -formerly made part of it--Venezuela, New Granada, and Ecuador; this -would be a return, after the lapse of a century, to the harmonious -union of the sister peoples, which would truly give them a common -future. - -The formation of a great Bolivian State, after a period of isolation -lasting more than a century, is certainly the dream of generous -statesmen. It is not easy to conceive of the political union of -peoples as far removed as those of Venezuela and Bolivia, but this -assembly might well result in a natural union of the peoples of the -North; a new Greater Colombia, whose provinces would stretch from the -Atlantic to the Pacific. - -In the south the A.B.C., the alliance of the Argentine, Brazil, and -Chili, is the question incessantly discussed in the sensational -press, and in the chancelleries, which love to surround themselves -with an atmosphere of mystery. These three nations, wealthy, -military powers, situated in distinct zones, are seeking -confederation; their ambition is to exercise in America a tutelage -which they consider indispensable. Already the understanding of May, -1902, had limited the armaments of Chili and the Argentine, and had -put an end to a long conflict. The rivality between the Argentine -and Brazil; the old friendship between that country and Chili, which -afterwards changed to a jealous alienation; the rivalry between the -Argentine {349} and Chili in the matter of wealth and power; discord, -threats of war, uneasy friendships; all this is insufficient to -restrain the military ambition of the three great nations. The -statesmen of Buenos-Ayres, Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago are labouring -to effect the realisation of an alliance between the three most -highly civilised and organised and most advanced nations of the -continent. Once this union is accomplished, to the indisputable -influence of the United States will be added the moderative influence -of the three great States of the South, and the equilibrium between -Latins and Anglo-Saxons would be its immediate result. - -There are writers in America who defend the chauvinistic autonomy of -small countries as against the natural supremacy of such combinations -of States. It is, however, certain that these alliances do not in -any way threaten the countries which take part in them; they respect -their internal constitution, and their historic organisation; they -confine themselves to a fusion of general and external interests, to -matters of commerce, and of peace and war. These utilitarian -partisans of the independence of each separate nation cannot conceive -of the grouping of nations as in the Greater Colombia, the -Confederation of the Pacific, or the Southern Alliance, without the -existence of obvious commercial interests. It is certainly true that -the _Zollverein_, or permanent customs agreement, was the basis of -German unity. But there are moral interests as powerful and as -obvious as the interests of commerce. Should not a common danger, -such as the Yankee peril in Panama and Central America, impel nations -toward federation and unity? - -Moreover, federation is not always the result of purely commercial -ties. Our century tends to synthetical action. As modern nations -were formed by overcoming the old feudal anarchy, so metropolis and -colonies are uniting in our days to form {350} formidable empires -which merely commercial interests could not explain. What economic -tie served as the basis of the South African Federation, a group of -hostile races retaining a memory of autonomy? Did not North and -South in the United States enter upon a terrible war of interests, -and, in spite of this utilitarian antagonism, is not Lincoln, the -founder of the Union, as great to-day as Washington, the founder of -nationality? The enormous power of the North American nation is the -result of this unity. If the patricians of the South had been -victorious in the War of Secession, if they had succeeded in -annihilating the Federal bond, then instead of the Republic which -overawes Europe and aspires to Americanise the world there would be -two powerless and inimical States; in the South an oligarchic nation -served by slaves, and in the North a feeble assemblage of Puritan -provinces, while the Far West would be incapable of resisting the -Yellow Peril. - -But there are economic ties between the Latin nations, which may -assist the preparation of respectable unions. Between Brazil and -Chili, Peru and Chili, Bolivia, Chili, and Peru, or the Argentine, -Paraguay, and Bolivia, there are actual currents of commercial -exchange, of agricultural products from complementary zones, and -therein a basis of union may be found. - -Latin America cannot continue to live divided, while her enemies are -building up vast federations and enormous empires. Whether in the -name of race or commercial interests, of common utility or true -independence, the American democracies must form themselves into -three or four powerful States. The Latin New World is alone in -resisting the universal impulse toward the establishment of -syndicates and federations, trusts and trades unions, associations -and alliances--in short, of increasingly vast and increasingly -powerful organisations. - - -[1] _The United States as a World-Power_. - -[2] See A. Alvarez, _Le Droit international americain_ (Paris, 1910), -in which the reader will find an interesting list of problems -respecting frontiers, immigration, and means of communication, -affecting Latin America in particular, which have on several -occasions met with solutions which form the basis of a new law (pp. -271 _et seq_.). - -[3] Alvarez, _ibid._, p. 189 et seq. - - - - -{351} - -CHAPTER II - -THE PROBLEM OF RACE - -The gravity of the problem--The three races, European, Indian, and -Negro--Their characteristics--The mestizos and mulattos--The -conditions of miscegenation according to M. Gustave Le -Bon--Regression to the primitive type. - - -The racial question is a very serious problem in American history. -It explains the progress of certain peoples and the decadence of -others, and it is the key to the incurable disorder which divides -America. Upon it depend a great number of secondary phenomena; the -public wealth, the industrial system, the stability of governments, -the solidity of patriotism. It is therefore essential that the -continent should have a constant policy, based upon the study of the -problems which are raised by the facts of race, just as there is an -agrarian policy in Russia, a protectionist policy in Germany, and a -free-trade policy in England. - -In the United States all the varieties of the European type are -intermingled: Scandinavians and Italians, Irish and Germans; but in -the Latin republics there are peoples of strange lineage: American -Indians, negroes, Orientals, and Europeans of different origin are -creating the race of the future in homes in which mixed blood is the -rule. - -In the Argentine, where Spanish, Russian, and Italian immigrants -intermingle, the social formation is extremely complicated. The -aboriginal Indians {352} have been united with African negroes, and -with Spanish and Portuguese Jews; then came Italians and Basques, -French and Anglo-Saxons; a multiple invasion, with the Latin element -prevailing. In Brazil Germans and Africans marry Indians and -Portuguese. Among the Pacific peoples, above all in Peru, a -considerable Asiatic influx, Chinese and Japanese, still further -complicates the human mixture. In Mexico and Bolivia the native -element, the Indian, prevails. The negroes form a very important -portion of the population of Cuba and San Domingo. Costa-Rica is a -democracy of whites; and in the Argentine, as in Chili, all vestiges -of the African type have disappeared. In short, there are no pure -races in America. The aboriginal Indian himself was the product of -the admixture of ancient tribes and castes. - -In the course of time historic races may form themselves; in the -meantime an indefinable admixture prevails. - -This complication of castes, this admixture of divers bloods, has -created many problems. For example, is the formation of a national -consciousness possible with such disparate elements? Would such -heterogeneous democracies be able to resist the invasion of superior -races? Finally, is the South American half-caste absolutely -incapable of organisation and culture? - -Facile generalisations will not suffice to solve these questions. -Here the experience of travellers and of American history even is of -greater value than the verdicts of the anthropologists. In the first -place the half-breeds are not all hybrids, and it is not true that -the union of the Spaniard and the American has always been sterile. -Hence the absolute necessity of understanding the proper character of -each of the races which have formed modern America. - -The Spaniards who arrived in the New World came from different -provinces; here alone is a prime cause {353} of variety. -Simultaneously with the languid Andalusian and the austere Basque, -the grave Catalonian and the impetuous Estremaduran left Spain. -Where the descendants of the Basque prevail, as in Chili, the -political organism is more stable, if less brilliant, than elsewhere, -and a strong will-power shows itself in work and success. The -Castilians brought to America their arrogance, and the fruitless -gestures of the hidalgo; where the Andalusians are in the majority -their agile fantasy, their gentle _non curanza_, militates against -all serious or continuous effort. The descendants of the Portuguese -are far more practical than those of the Spaniards; they are also -more disciplined and more laborious. The psychological -characteristics of the Indian are just as various; the descendant of -the Quechuas does not resemble the descendant of the Charruas, any -more than the temperament of the Araucanian resembles that of the -Aztec. In Chili, Uruguay, and the Argentine, there were warlike -populations whose union with the conquerors has formed virile -half-castes, an energetic and laborious _plebs_. In Chili -Araucanians and Basques have intermingled; and is it not in this -fusion that we must seek the explanation of the persistent character -of the Chilian nation, and its military spirit? The Aymara of -Bolivia and the south-east of Peru is hard and sanguinary; the -Quechua of the table-lands of the Andes is gentle and servile. It is -by no means a matter of indifference whether the modern citizen of -the Latin democracies is descended from a Guarani, an Aztec, an -Araucan, or a Chibcha; he will, as the case may be, prove aggressive -or passive, a nomadic shepherd or a quiet tiller of the common soil. - -The Indian of the present time, undermined by alcohol and poverty, is -free according to the law, but a serf by virtue of the permanance of -authoritative manners. Petty tyrannies make him a slave; he {354} -works for the _cacique_, the baron of American feudalism. The curé, -the sub-prefect, and the judge, all-powerful in these young -democracies, exploit him and despoil him of his possessions.[1] The -communities, very like the Russian _mir_, are disappearing, and the -Indian is losing his traditional rights to the lands of the -collectivity. Without sufficient food, without hygiene, a distracted -and laborious beast, he decays and perishes; to forget the misery of -his daily lot he drinks, becomes an alcoholic, and his numerous -progeny present the characteristics of degeneracy. He lives in the -mountains or table-lands, where a glacial cold prevails and the -solitude is eternal. Nothing disturbs the monotony of these desolate -stretches; nothing breaks the inflexible line of the limitless -horizons; there the Indian grows as melancholy and as desiccated as -the desert that surrounds him. The great occasions of his civil -life--birth, marriage, and death--are the subjects of a religious -exploitation. Servile and superstitious, he finally loves the -tyrannies that oppress him. He adores the familiar gods of the -Cerros, of the mountain. He is at once a Christian and a -fetish-worshipper; he sees in mysterious nature demons and goblins, -occult powers which are favourable and hostile by turn. - -There are, nevertheless, regions where despotism has developed in the -Indian a sort of passive resistance. There he is sober and vigorous, -and by his complete adaptation to the maternal soil he has grown -apathetic and a creature of routine. He hates all that might destroy -his age-long traditions: schools, military training, and the -authority that despoils him. Conservative and melancholy, he lives -on the border of the Republic and its laws; his heart grows hot -against the tyranny from which he forever suffers. Dissimulation, -servility, and melancholy are {355} his leading traits; rancour, -hardness, and hypocrisy are the forms of his defensive energy. He -supports his slavery upon this cold earth, but he sometimes revolts -against his exploiters; and at Huanta and Ayoayo he fought against -his oppressors with true courage, sustained by hatred, as in the -heroic times of _Tupac-Amaru_.[2] After this bloody epic he resumed -his monotonous existence under the heedless sky. In his songs he -curses his birth and his destiny. In the evening he leaves the -narrow valley where in his slavery he is employed in agricultural -labours, to journey into the _cerros_ and mourn the abandonment of -his household gods. A weird lamentation passes over the darkening -earth, and from summit to summit the Cordillera re-echoes the -sorrowful and melodious plaint of the Indian as he curses conquest -and warfare. - -The negroes of Angola or the Congo have mingled equally with the -Spaniard and the Indian. The African woman satisfied the ardour of -the conquerors; she has darkened the skin of the race. - -The negroes arrived as slaves; sold _a usanza de feria_ (as beasts of -burden), they were primitive creatures, impulsive and sensual. Idle -and servile, they have not contributed to the progress of the race. -In the dwelling-houses of the colonial period they were domestics, -acting as _pions_ to their masters' children; in the fields and the -plantations of sugar-cane they were slaves, branded by the lash of -the overseer. They form an illiterate population which exercises a -depressing influence on the American imagination and character. They -increase still further the voluptuous intensity of the tropical -temper, weaken it, and infuse into the blood of the Creole elements -of {356} idleness, recklessness, and servility which are becoming -permanent. - -The three races--Iberian, Indian, and African--united by blood, form -the population of South America. In the United States union with the -aborigines is regarded by the colonist with repugnance; in the South -miscegenation is a great national fact; it is universal. The Chilian -oligarchy has kept aloof from the Araucanians, but even in that -country unions between whites and Indians abound. Mestizos are the -descendants of whites and Indians; mulattos the children of Spaniards -and negroes; _zambos_ the sons of negroes and Indians. Besides these -there are a multitude of social sub-divisions. On the Pacific coast -Chinese and negroes have interbred. From the Caucasian white, -bronzed by the tropics, to the pure negro, we find an infinite -variety in the cephalic index, in the colour of the skin, and in the -stature. - -It is always the Indian that prevails, and the Latin democracies are -mestizo or indigenous. The ruling class has adopted the costume, the -usages, and the laws of Europe, but the population which forms the -national mass is Quechua, Aymara, or Aztec. In Peru, in Bolivia, and -in Ecuador the Indian of pure race, not having as yet mingled his -blood with that of the Spanish conquerors, constitutes the ethnic -base. In the Sierra the people speak Quechua and Aymara; there also -the vanquished races preserve their traditional communism. Of the -total population of Peru and Ecuador the white element only attains -to the feeble proportion of 6 per cent., while the Indian element -represents 70 per cent. of the population of these countries, and 50 -per cent. in Bolivia. In Mexico the Indian is equally in the -majority, and we may say that there are four Indian nations on the -continent: Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. - -In countries where the pure native has not survived {357} the -mestizos abound; they form the population of Colombia, Chili, -Uruguay, and Paraguay; in this latter country Guarani is spoken much -more frequently than Spanish. The true American of the South is the -mestizo, the descendant of Spaniards and Indians; but this new race, -which is almost the rule from Mexico to Buenos-Ayres, is not always a -hybrid product. The warlike peoples, like those of Paraguay and -Chili, are descended from Spaniards, Araucanians, and Guaranis. -Energetic leaders have been found among the mestizos: Paez in -Venezuela, Castilla in Peru, Diaz in Mexico, and Santa-Cruz in -Bolivia. An Argentine anthropologist, Señor Ayarragaray, says that -"the primary mestizo is inferior to his European progenitors, but at -the same time he is often superior to his native ancestors." He is -haughty, virile, and ambitious if his ancestors were Charruas, -Guaranis, or Araucanians; even the descendant of the peaceable -Quechuas is superior to the Indian. He learns Spanish, assimilates -the manners of a new and superior civilisation, and forms the ruling -caste at the bar and in politics. The mestizo, the product of a -first crossing, is not otherwise a useful element of the political -and economic unity of America; he retains too much the defects of the -native; he is false and servile, and often incapable of effort. It -is only after fresh unions with Europeans that he manifests the full -force of the characteristics obtained from the white. The heir of -the colonising race and of the autocthonous race, both adapted to the -same soil, he is extremely patriotic; Americanism, a doctrine hostile -to foreigners, is his work. He wishes to obtain power in order to -usurp the privileges of the Creole oligarchies. - -One may say that the admixture of the prevailing strains with black -blood has been disastrous for these democracies. In applying John -Stuart Mill's law {358} of concomitant variations to the development -of Spanish America one may determine a necessary relation between the -numerical proportion of negroes and the intensity of civilisation. -Wealth increases and internal order is greater in the Argentine, -Uruguay, and Chili, and it is precisely in these countries that the -proportion of negroes has always been low; they have disappeared in -the admixture of European races. In Cuba, San Domingo, and some of -the republics of Central America, and certain of the States of the -Brazilial Confederation, where the children of slaves constitute the -greater portion of the population, internal disorders are continual. -A black republic, Hayti, demonstrates by its revolutionary history -the political incapacity of the negro race. - -The mulatto and the _zambo_ are the true American hybrids. D'Orbigny -believed the mestizo to be superior to the descendants of the -Africans imported as slaves; Burmeister is of opinion that in the -mulatto the characteristics of the negro are predominant. -Ayarragaray states that the children born of the union of negroes -with _zambos_ or natives are in general inferior to their parents, as -much in intelligence as in physical energy. The inferior elements of -the races which unite are evidently combined in their offspring. It -is observed also that both in the mulattos and the _zambos_ certain -internal contradictions may be noted; their will is weak and -uncertain, and is dominated by instinct and gross and violent -passions. Weakness of character corresponds with a turgid -intelligence, incapable of profound analysis, or method, or general -ideas, and a certain oratorical extravagance, a pompous rhetoric. -The mulatto loves luxury and extravagance; he is servile, and lacks -moral feeling. The invasion of negroes affected all the Iberian -colonies, where, to replace the outrageously exploited Indian, -African slaves were imported by the ingenuous evangelists {359} of -the time. In Brazil, Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, and Peru this caste -forms a high proportion of the total population. In Brazil 15 per -cent. of the population is composed of negroes, without counting the -immense number of mulattos and _zambos_. Bahia is half an African -city. In Rio de Janeiro the negroes of pure blood abound. In Panama -the full-blooded Africans form 10 per cent. of the population. -Between 1759 and 1803 642,000 negroes entered Brazil; between 1792 -and 1810 Cuba received 89,000. These figures prove the formidable -influence of the former slaves in modern America. But they are -revenged for their enslavement in that their blood is mingled with -that of their masters. Incapable of order and self-government, they -are a factor of anarchy; every species of vain outer show attracts -them--sonorous phraseology and ostentation. They make a show of an -official function, a university title, or an academic diploma. As -the Indian could not work in the tropics black immigration was -directed principally upon those regions, and the enervating climate, -the indiscipline of the mulatto, and the weakness of the white -element have contributed to the decadence of the Equatorial nations. - -The mulatto is more despised than the mestizo because he often shows -the abjectness of the slave and the indecision of the hybrid; he is -at once servile and arrogant, envious and ambitious. His violent -desire to mount to a higher social rank, to acquire wealth, power, -and display, is, as Señor Bunge very justly remarks, a "hyperæsthesia -of arrivism." - -The _zambos_ have created nothing in America. On the other hand, the -robust mestizo populations, the Mamelucos of Brazil, the Cholos of -Peru and Bolivia, the Rotos of Chili, descendants of Spaniards and -the Guarani Indians, are distinguished by their pride {360} and -virility. Instability, apathy, degeneration--all the signs of -exhausted race--are encountered far more frequently in the mulatto -than in the mestizo. - -The European established in America becomes a Creole; his is a new -race, the final product of secular unions. He is neither Indian, nor -black, nor Spaniard. The castes are confounded and have formed an -American stock, in which we may distinguish the psychological traits -of the Indian and the negro, while the shades of skin and forms of -skull reveal a remote intermixture. If all the races of the New -World were finally to unite, the Creole would be the real American. - -He is idle and brilliant. There is nothing excessive either in his -ideals or his passions; all is mediocre, measured, harmonious. His -fine and caustic irony chills his more exuberant enthusiasms; he -triumphs by means of laughter. He loves grace, verbal elegance, -quibbles even, and artistic form; great passions or desires do not -move him. In religion he is sceptical, indifferent, and in politics -he disputes in the Byzantine manner. No one could discover in him a -trace of his Spanish forefather, stoical and adventurous. - -But is unity possible with such numerous castes? Must we not wait -for the work of many centuries before a clearly American population -be formed? The admixture of Indian, European, mestizo, and mulatto -blood continues. How form a homogeneous race of these varieties? -There will be a period of painful unrest: American revolutions reveal -the disequilibrium of men and races. Miscegenation often produces -types devoid of all proportion, either physical or moral. - -The resistance of neo-Americans to fatigue and disease is -considerably diminished. In the seething retort of the future the -elements of a novel synthesis combine and grow yet more complex. If -the {361} castes remain divided there will be no unity possible to -oppose a probable invasion. "Three conditions are necessary," says -M. Gustave Le Bon, "before races can achieve fusion and form a new -race, more or less homogeneous. The first of these conditions is -that the races subjected to the process of crossing must not be too -inequal in number; the second, that they must not differ too greatly -in character; the third, that they must be for a long time subjected -to an identical environment." - -Examining the mixed peoples of America in conformity with these -principles we see that the Indian and the negro are greatly superior -to the whites in numbers; the pure European element does not amount -to 10 per cent. of the total population. In Brazil and the Argentine -there are numbers of German and Italian immigrants, but in other -countries the necessary stream of invasion of superior races does not -exist. - -We have indicated the profound differences which divide the bold -Spaniard from the negro slave; we have said that the servility of the -Indian race contrasts with the pride of the conquerors; that is to -say, that the mixture of rival castes, Iberians, Indians, and -negroes, has generally had disastrous consequences. Perhaps we may -except the fortunate combinations of mestizo blood in Chili, Southern -Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. Finally, the territory -has not yet exercised a decisive influence upon the races in contact. -The modern Frenchman and Anglo-Saxon are born of the admixture of -ancient races subjected for centuries to the influences of the soil. -The great invasions which modified the traditional stock took place a -thousand years ago; they explain the terrible struggles of the Middle -Ages. The new American type has not so long a history. - -In short, none of the conditions established by the {362} French -psychologists are realised by the Latin-American democracies, and -their populations are therefore degenerate. - -The lower castes struggle successfully against the traditional rules: -the order which formerly existed is followed by moral anarchy; solid -conviction by a superficial scepticism, and the Castilian tenacity by -indecision. The black race is doing its work and the continent is -returning to its primitive barbarism. - -This retrogression constitutes a very serious menace. In South -America civilisation is dependent upon the numerical predominance of -the victorious Spaniard, on the triumph of the white man over the -mulatto, the negro, and the Indian. Only a plentiful European -immigration can re-establish the shattered equilibrium of the -American races. In the Argentine the cosmopolitan alluvium has -destroyed the negro and mitigated the Indian. A century ago there -were 20 per cent. of Africans in Buenos-Ayres; the ancient slave has -now disappeared, and mulattos are rare. In Mexico, on the other -hand, in 1810 the Europeans formed a sixth part of the population; -to-day they do not form more than a twentieth part. - -Dr. Karl Pearson, in his celebrated book _National Life and -Character_, writes: "In the long run the inferior civilisations give -proof of a vigour greater than that of the superior civilisations; -the disinherited gain upon the privileged castes, and the conquered -people absorbs the conquering people." He declared further that -Brazil would quickly fall into the power of the negroes, and that -while the Indians would multiply and develop in the inaccessible -regions of the north and the centre, the white peoples, crowded out -by the progress of these races, would be numerous only in the cities -and the more salubrious districts. This painful prophecy will be -accomplished to the letter if, in the conflict of castes, {363} the -white population is not promptly reinforced by the arrival of new -colonists. - -But crossing alone will not communicate the superior characteristics -of the race to the mestizo in a lasting manner. "It is necessary -that he should be the fruit of a union of the third, fourth, or fifth -degree; that is, that there should have been as many successive -crossings, with a father or a mother of the white race, before the -mestizo can be in a condition to assimilate European culture," writes -an Argentine sociologist. For this vast process of selection to be -realised to the profit of the white man not only must the races -subjected to admixture exist in certain proportions, but the mass of -Europeans must prevail and impose their temper upon the future -castes. In short, the problem of race depends upon the solution -given to the demographic problem. Without the help of a new -population there will be in America not merely a lamentable -exhaustion but also a prompt recoil of the race. The phrase of -Alberdi is still true: "In America to govern means to populate." - -The colonists brought with them the traditions and manners of the -disciplined races, a moral organisation which was the work of -centuries of common life. People of rural extraction, when they -reached America, upheld the established interests, the government, -the law, and the peace; they worked, fought, and laid up treasure. -Moreover, only the most enterprising of men emigrated, and they -transmitted to the new democracies an element of vitality they had -not before known. As early as the second generation the descendants -of the foreign colonists were already Argentines, Brazilians, or -Peruvians; their patriotism was as ardent and devoted and exclusive -as that of their fathers. They completely adopted the local manners. -They had been transformed by the action of the American environment. - -{364} - -Basques or Italians have already transformed the Argentine. They -arrive as artisans, or labourers, or clerks and traders; they form -agricultural colonies and become landowners. They soon break their -fetters; their sons become merchants, financial agents, or wealthy -plutocrats. Of 1,000 inhabitants there are 128 Italians and only 99 -Argentines who own land. These Latins are prolific; in 1904 1,000 -Argentine women gave life to 80 infants; 1,000 Spanish women to 123, -and 1,000 Italian women to 175.[3] These immigrants thus increase -the national wealth and people the desert.[4] Moreover, their -descendants figure in politics and letters. Let us mention only a -few Argentine names remarkable on one count or another: Groussac, -Magnasco, Becher, Bunge, Ingegnieros, Chiappori, Banchs, and -Gerchunoff. - - -[1] The _Indianista_ Society in Mexico and the _Pro Indigena_ in Peru -were founded for the protection and rehabilitation of the Indians. - -[2] The Bolivian sociologist, A. Argüedas, writes of the Aymara -Indians: "They are hard, rancorous, egotistic, and cruel. The Indian -herdsmen have no ambition other than to increase the number of the -heads of cattle which they pasture." - -[3] V. Gonnard, _L'Emigration européenne au XIXe siècle_, Paris, -1906, p. 220 _et seq_. - -[4] To understand the significance of immigration, it is enough to -remark that there are in Mexico 7 inhabitants per square kilometre, -in Brazil 1.7, in the Argentine 1.6, while there are 72 in France, -105 in Germany, no in Italy, 120 in England, and 248 in Belgium. - - - - -{365} - -CHAPTER III - -THE POLITICAL PROBLEM - -The _caudillos_: their action--Revolutions--Divorce between written -Constitutions and political life--The future parties--The bureaucracy. - - -The development of the Ibero-American democracies differs -considerably from the admirable spirit of their political charters. -The latter include all the principles of government applied by the -great European nations: the equilibrium of powers, natural rights, a -liberal suffrage, and representative assemblies, but the reality -contradicts the idealism of the statutes imported from Europe. The -traditions of the prevailing race, in fact, have created simple and -barbarous systems of government. The _caudillo_ is the pivot of this -political system: leader of a party, of a social group, or a family -whose important relations make it powerful, he enforces his -tyrannical will upon the multitude. In him resides the power of -government and the law. On his permanent action depends the internal -order of the State, its economic development, and the national -organisation. His authority is inviolable, superior to the -Constitution and its laws. - -All the history of America, and the inheritance of the Spaniard and -the Indian, has ended in the exaltation of the _caudillo_. -Government by _caciques_, absolute masters, like the _caudillos_ -themselves, is very ancient in Spain, as was shown by Joaquin {366} -Costa in his analysis of the foundations of Spanish politics. In -each province, in each city, was a central personage in whom justice -and might were incarnated; admired by the crowd, obeyed by opinion, -enforcing his manners and his ideas. The American Indians obeyed -_caciques_, and the first conquerors quickly saw that by winning over -the local chiefs they would at the same time subject the native -populations. The existence of the _caudillos_ may also be explained -by territorial influences. It has been written that the desert is -monotheistic; over its arid uniformity one imposing God reigns -supreme. It is the same with the steppes, the _pampas_, and the -table-lands of America; vast and monotonous tracts; Paez and Quiroga -were divinities of such regions. No other force could limit their -authority. Contrasted with the uniform level of mankind which is the -work of the plains, their firm chieftainship assumed divine -attributes. American revolutions are like the Moorish wars directed -by mystic Kaids. - -Señor Raphael Salillas writes that in Spain the _cacique_ is a -hypertrophy of the political personage; he symbolises the excess of -power and of the ambition of Spanish individualism. In America the -first _conquistadors_ quarrelled for the supreme authority. The -civil wars of the Conquest arose from conflicts between chiefs; none -of them could conceive of power as real unless it was unlimited and -despotic. After them the all-powerful viceroy, a demi-god in his -powers, exercised a similar domination. The South American -President, the heir to the traditions of the governors of the -colonial epoch, also possesses the maximum of authority; the -Constitution confers upon him powers like those of the Czars of -Russia. - -Power for its own sake is the ideal of such men. The less important -chieftains are satisfied by the government of a province; the great -leader aspires {367} to rule a republic. Questions of personality -are the prevailing characteristics of politics; and despotic rulers -abound. When a "Regenerator" usurps the supreme power a "Restorer" -appears to dispute it with him; then a "Liberator," and finally a -"Defender of the Constitution." The lesser gods fight to their -hearts' content, and the democracy accepts the victor, in whom it -admires the representative leader, the robust creation of the race. -Such a man is not like the character of Ibsen's, who is strong in his -isolation; in the _caudillo_ the average characteristics of the -nation, its vices and its qualities, are better defined and more -strongly accentuated; he obeys his instincts and certain fixed ideas; -he conceives of no ideals; he is impressionable and fanatical. - -Señor Ayarragarray distinguishes two varieties of _caudillo_; the -cunning and the violent. The latter was above all peculiar to the -military period of Ibero-American history. The leader of a band that -ravaged like the Huns, he ruled by terror and audacity, enforcing the -discipline of the barracks in civil life. The _caudillo_ of the -cunning type exercised a more prolonged moral dictatorship; he -belongs to a period of transition between the military period and the -industrial period. This new master retained the supreme power by -lies and subterfuges. A half-civilised tyrant, he used wealth as -others used force, and instead of brutally thrusting himself on the -people he employed a system of tortuous corruption. - -The rule of the _caudillos_ led to presidential government. The -Constitutions established assemblies; but tradition triumphed in -spite of these theoretical structures. Since the colonial period -centralisation and unity have been the American forms of government. - -In the person of the President of these democracies resides all the -authority which usually devolves upon {368} the public functionaries. -He commands the army, multiplies the wheels of administration, and -surrounds himself with doctors of law and Prætorian soldiers. The -Assemblies obey him; he intervenes in the course of elections, and -obtains the Parliamentary majorities that he requires. The upper -magistracy is sometimes indocile to the desires of the Government, -but in the life of the provinces the judges depend absolutely upon -the political leaders. The supreme direction of the finances, the -army, the fleet, and the administration in general rests with the -President, as before the republican era it belonged to the viceroy. - -The parties fight among themselves, not only for power, but to obtain -this omnipotent presidency. They realise that the chief of the -Executive is the effective agent of all political changes; that -ministers and parliaments are only secondary factors in political -life. An Argentine sociologist, Señor Joaquin Gonzalez, has said -very justly that "each governmental period is characterised by the -condition and the worth of the man who presides over it. This -presidential system, in default of a solid and elevated political -education, has in great measure favoured the return to the personal -_régime_." - -To this system correspond the political groups without programmes; -men do not struggle for the triumph of ideas, but for that of certain -individuals. The consecrated terms lose their traditional meaning. -There are civilists who uphold militarism; liberals who strive to -increase the presidential authority; nationalists who favour -cosmopolitanism; constitutionalists who violate the political -charter. The personal system groups conservatives and liberals -together. Even in Chili, where the activity of the parties has been -unusually continuous, the older parties have split up into shapeless -factions. The President establishes his despotic authority over the -{369} confusion of these rival groups; he tries to dissolve the small -factions, to divide them, in order to rule them. - -Without ideals or unity of action the parties are transformed into -greedy cliques, which are distinguished by the colour of their -favours. As in Byzantium, so in Venezuela, the Blues struggle -against the Yellows, while in Uruguay the Whites oppose the Reds, red -being the distinctive colour of the Argentine federalists. An -aggressive intolerance divides these groups; they gather round their -_gonfaloniere_ and their party symbol in irreducible factions. No -common interest can reconcile them, not even that of their native -country. Each party supports a leader, an interest, a dogma; on the -one side a man beholds his own party, the missionaries of truth and -culture; the other are his enemies, mercenary and corrupt. Each -group believes that it seeks to retain the supremacy in the name of -disinterested virtue and patriotism. Rosas used to call his -opponents "infamous savages." For the gang in possession of power, -the revolutionaries are malefactors; for the latter the ruling party -are merely a government of thieves and tyrants. There are gods of -good and evil, as in the Oriental theogonies. Educated in the Roman -Church, Americans bring into politics the absolutism of religious -dogmas; they have no conception of toleration. The dominant party -prefers to annihilate its adversaries, to realise the complete -unanimity of the nation; the hatred of one's opponents is the first -duty of the prominent politician. The opposition can hardly pretend -to fill a place of influence in the assemblies, or slowly to acquire -power. It is only by violence that the parties can emerge from the -condition of ostracism in which they are held by the faction in -power, and it is by violence that they return to that condition. -Apart from the rule of the _caudillos_ the political lie is {370} -triumphant; the freedom of the suffrage is only a platonic promise -inscribed in the Constitution; the elections are the work of the -Government; there is no public opinion. Journalism, almost always -opportunist, merely reflects the indecision of the parties. -Political statutes and social conditions contradict each other; the -former proclaim equality, and there are many races; there is -universal suffrage, and the races are illiterate; liberty and -despotic rulers enforce an arbitrary power. By means of the prefects -and governors the President directs the elections, supports this or -that candidate, and even chooses his successor. He is the supreme -elector. - -The representative assemblies become veritable bureaucratic -institutions; deputies and senators accept the orders of the -President. According to Señor L. A. de Herrera, two castes are in -process of formation, "on the one hand the oligarchies, which possess -the supreme power in defiance of the public will, and on the other -the citizens, who are deprived of all participation in the -government." Frequent revolutions and _pronunciamentos_, according -to Spanish tradition, disturb the ruling class in the exercise of -power; these superficial movements cannot be compared to the great -crises of European history, which result in the disappearance of a -political system or bring about the advent of a new social class. -They are merely the result of the perpetual conflict between the -_caudillos_; the leaders and the oligarchies change, but the system, -with its secular vices, remains. - -The South American revolutions may be regarded as a necessary form of -political activity: in Venezuela fifty-two important revolts have -broken out within a century. The victorious party tries to destroy -the other groups; revolution thus represents a political weapon to -those parties which are deprived of the suffrage. It corresponds to -the protests of European {371} minorities, to the anarchical strikes -of the proletariat, to the great public meetings of England, in which -the opposing parties attack the Government. It is to the excessive -simplicity of the political system, in which opinion has no other -means of expression than the tyranny of oligarchies on the one hand -and the rebellion of the vanquished on the other, that the -interminable and sanguinary conflicts of Spanish America are due. -These internal wars continually retard the economic development of -the State and decrease its stability; they ruin the foreign credit of -the republics, prepare the way for humiliating interventions, and -give rise to tyrannies; but it must not be forgotten that revolution, -in these democracies without law and without real suffrage, has often -been the only means of defending liberty. Against the tyrants even -conservative spirits have revolted, and rebellion has become reaction. - -For the rest, the civil wars have lost their former character. They -used to symbolise the return to primeval chaos; vagabond multitudes, -armed bands, desolated the fields and burned the towns. -Assassination, theft, the devastation of property and estates, war -without mercy, fire, and all the powers of destruction were in revolt -against the feeble foundations of nationality. - -As by the inverse selection of the Spanish Inquisition, the most -intelligent and the most cultivated perished. Brutal horsemen -occupied the cities in which Spanish civilisation had attained its -apogee. Sarmiento has described the assault on the nomad wagons -which bore the national _penates_ across the Argentine _pampas_ in a -sort of Tartar Odyssey amid the infinite desolation of the plains. -Even when the social classes were organised and the economic -interests defined the rivality of the leaders continued, and politics -remained personal. However, civil war is already no longer the -brutal onset of men with neither {372} law nor faith, no longer an -irruption of outlaws. The drama has replaced the epic; the conflict -of passions and interests succeeds to the battles of semi-divine -personages, proud of their tragic mission. Men buy votes; electoral -committees falsify the suffrage, as in the United States, by force of -money. - -Thus the plutocracy conquers the benches of Congress. - -If the continent spontaneously creates dictators then is all the -ambitious structure of American politics--parliaments, ministers, and -municipalities--merely a delusive invention? - -In some States in which the economic life is intense, as in the -Argentine, Chili, Brazil, and Uruguay, benevolent despotism does not -mark the high-water limit of national development; there new parties -are forming themselves, and the _caudillos_ will soon disappear. Dr. -Ingegnieros foresees the creation in the Argentine of new political -groups, with financial tendencies. The rural class which rules in -the provinces and possesses the great mass of the national wealth, -which is derived from stock-raising and agriculture, and the -commercial and industrial middle-class of the cities, will form, like -the Tories and Whigs in England, the two parties of the future. Once -the secondary parties have disappeared, the two great political -organisations will prevail alone. - -This transformation of the old groups is logical. In the colonial -period the conflict for the possession of power took place within the -narrow limits of public life; the Spaniards were in the majority in -the _audiencas_, the courts, and the Creoles in the _cabildos_, the -municipalities. The former upheld religious intolerance, economic -monopoly, and the exclusive and universal empire of the metropolis; -the latter endeavoured to obtain economic and political equality, the -abolition of privileges, and a national government. After the -revolution these divisions grew more {373} complex; federalism and -unity, religious quarrels, and sometimes the mutual hostility of the -different castes, divided men into shifting groups. Politics became -the warfare of irreducible clans. In the organised nations of the -south the dissensions gradually lost their importance, and a general -indifference succeeded to the old theological hatreds. Federals and -municipalists were still fighting, but the original bitterness of -their antagonism was dead. On the other hand, the castes were -progressively becoming confounded by intermarriage. - -However, the economic factors persisted, and their importance has -increased as towns and industries have developed. Financial -questions will in future divide the citizens of those democracies -which have become plainly industrial; the agrarians will oppose the -manufacturers and the free-traders the protectionists. Like the -republicans and democrats of the United States, certain groups will -favour imperialism and others neutrality. The group which would -stimulate Yankee or German influence will be opposed by another, the -partisan of Italian or French activity. - -Already in Cuba there are some who favour annexation by the United -States, while others demand complete autonomy. Some politicians -would agree to immigration without reserve or restriction, while -others, the nationalists, would defend the integrity of their -inheritance against foreign invasion. America, like modern France, -will have its _métèques_; they will be the Europeans, the Yankees, -and the yellow races. - -Apart from the southern nations there has as yet been no formation of -classes or social interests. None of the problems which agitate -Europe--extension of the suffrage, proportional representation, -municipal autonomy--have any immediate importance among them. The -State is the necessary guardian, a kind of social providence whence -derive riches, strength, {374} and progress. To weaken this -influence would be to encourage internal disorder; only those -Constitutions have been of use in America which have reinforced the -central power against the attacks of a perpetual anarchy. - -The progress of these democracies is the work of foreign capital, and -when political anarchy prevails credit collapses. Governments which -ensure peace and paternal tyrants are therefore preferable to -demagogues. A young Venezuelan critic, Señor Machado Hernandez, -having studied the history of his country, rent as it has been by -revolutions, considers that the best form of government for America -is that which reinforces the attributions of the executive and -establishes a dictatorship. In place of the Swiss referendum and the -federal organisation of the United States autocracy is, it seems to -us, the only practical practical means of government. - -To increase the duration of the presidency in order to avoid the too -frequent conflicts of parties; to simplify the political machine, -which transforms the increasingly numerous parliaments into mere -bureaucratic institutions; to prolong the mandate of senators and -deputies, so that the life of the people shall not be disturbed by -continual elections; in short, to surrender the ingenuous dogmas of -the political statutes in favour of concrete reforms: such would -appear to be the ideal which in Tropical America--in Mexico, Peru, -and Bolivia--would arrest the destructive action of revolutions. - -It is obvious that a president furnished with a strong authority may -quickly become a tyrant, but in these nations is not political power -always a semi-dictatorship which is tolerated? The head of the State -governs for four years according to the term of the Constitution, but -his action is continued by his successor. The real duration of his -political action is twenty years. - -{375} - -If a tutelary president is necessary it is none the less essential to -oppose his autocracy by a moderative power which would recall, in its -constitution, the life-Senate of Bolivar. One may even conceive of a -Senate which would represent the real national interests: a stable -body, the union of all the forces of social conservation; a serene -assembly untroubled by democratic cravings, in which the clergy, the -universities, commerce, the industries, the army, the marine, and the -judiciary, might defend the Constitution and tradition against the -assaults of demagogy, against too audacious reformers. Garcia-Moreno -wished to see the mandate of the senators extended to a term of -twelve years. - -The quality of the legislative chambers is ineffective in America. -In fact, both being elected by the popular vote, and having like -electoral majorities, the Lower Chamber always gets its way with the -Senate, which represents neither interests nor traditions. There is -in reality one uniform assembly artificially divided into two -independent bodies. The whole is dominated, there being no -conservative institutions as a useful corrective, by the anonymous or -Jacobin will of the multitude, which is moved by all sorts of divided -interests: the craving for power, provincial pride, and a passion for -cabal and intrigue. - -A factor of American politics which is as serious as the periodical -revolutions is the development of the bureaucracy. - -In the still simple life of the nation the organs of the public -administration are complicated in the most exaggerated manner. The -budget supports a sterile class recruited principally among the -Creoles, who prefer the security of officialism to the conquest of -the soil. Energy and hope diminish with the almost infinite increase -of the "budgetivores." - -Foreigners monopolise trade and industry, and {376} thus acquire -property in the soil which has been inherited by a race of Americans -without energy. - -A North American observer[1] writes that the great fortunes of the -Argentines of American extraction have been made by the -ever-increasing value of real estate, and are due to the natural -development of the country rather than to their own initiative or -enterprise. But the South Americans are on the way to waste these -fortunes, and the fortunate colonists from Spain and Italy are -gradually replacing them in the social hierarchy. - -According to a Mexican statesman, Señor Justo Sierra, the government -in South America is an administration of employés, protected by other -employés, the army. These nations, which are being invaded by active -immigrants, are thus directed by a group of mandarins, and if the -young men of these countries are not encouraged in commercial and -industrial vocations by a practical education the enriched colonists -will expel the Creole from his ancient position. A few writers -defend the bureaucracy as the refuge, in the face of the cosmopolitan -invasion, of the choice spirits of the nation: writers, artists, and -politicians. "If foreigners dispose of the material fortune of the -country," says a distinguished young observer, Señor Manuel Galvez, -"it is just that we others, Argentines, should dispose of its -intellectual fortune." A noble idealism, satisfied by an unreal -wealth! But from the point of view of the national life this lack of -equilibrium is disturbing. In face of the progress of the victorious -foreigners who are making themselves masters of the soil, to shut -oneself up in a tower of ivory would be the most complete of -renunciations. - -In the organisation of the America of the future we must not forget -the suggestions of Caliban. {377} Among the innumerable bureaucrats -who devour the budgets there will not always be writers worthy of -official protection; they will rather be recruited among an indolent -youth, restive under any sustained effort. - -The encouragement of "choice spirits" must not be confounded with the -unjustifiable maintenance of a legion of parasites. The _caudillo_ -multiplies functions in order to reward his friends; nepotism -prevails in the world of politics. - -The great political transformations of the future will be due to the -development of the common wealth; new parties will appear and the -bureaucracy will have to be considerably diminished. - - -[1] Cited by J. V. Gonzalez in _La Nación_, Buenos-Ayres, May 25, -1910. - - - - -{378} - -CHAPTER IV - -THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM - -Loans--Budgets--Paper money--The formation of national capital. - - -Unexploited wealth abounds in America. Forests of rubber, as in the -African Congo; mines of gold and diamonds, which recall the treasures -of the Transvaal and the Klondyke; rivers which flow over beds of -auriferous sand, like the Pactolus of ancient legend; coffee, cocoa, -and wheat, whose abundance is such that these products are enough to -glut the markets of the world. But there is no national capital. -This contrast between the wealth of the soil and the poverty of the -State gives rise to serious economic problems. - -By means of long-sustained efforts, an active race would have won -financial independence. The Latin-Americans, idle, and accustomed to -leave everything to the initiative of the State, have been unable to -effect the conquest of the soil, and it is foreign capital that -exploits the treasure of America. - -Since the very beginnings of independence the Latin democracies, -lacking financial reserves, have had need of European gold. The -government of Spain used to seize upon the wealth of her colonies to -satisfy the needs of a prodigal court, and to prevent its own -bankruptcy. The independence of America was won with the aid of -English money, hence the first of the necessary loans. Canning -encouraged the South American revolutionaries, and the English {379} -bankers gave their support to their plans, in the shape of loans to -the new governments. Colombian, Argentine, and Peruvian agents -solicited heavy loans in the City of London, without which assistance -the Spanish power could never have been defeated. - -The republican _régime_ thus commenced its career by assuming -imperious financial responsibilities. Before commencing to practise -a policy of fiscal economy, it was necessary to accept the conclusion -of the most urgent loans, but once the European markets were open the -financial orgy commenced. In 1820 Señor Zea concluded the first -Colombian loan; in 1821 the government of that country declared that -it could not ensure the service of the debt. The necessities of the -war with Spain and the always difficult task of building up a new -society demanded the assistance of foreign gold; loans accumulated, -and very soon various States were obliged to solicit the simultaneous -reduction of the capital borrowed and the rate of interest paid. The -lamentable history of these bankrupt democracies dates from this -period. - -Little by little these financial contracts lost all semblance of -serious business. In the impossibility of obtaining really solid -guarantees the bankers imposed preposterous conditions, and issue at -a discount became the rule with the new conventions. A series of -interventions in Buenos-Ayres, Mexico, San Domingo, and Venezuela, -diplomatic conflicts, and claims for indemnity resulted from this -precarious procedure. Moreover, thanks to the protection accorded by -their respective countries, foreigners acquired a privileged -position. The Americans were subjected to the jurisdiction of the -ordinary courts, before which they could demand the payment of their -claims on the State; foreigners enjoyed exceptional treatment. A -statute was enacted in their favour, and their governments supported -them in the {380} recovery of unjustifiable claims. Sir Charles -Wyke, English minister to Mexico, wrote to the Foreign Office in -1862: "Nineteen out of twenty foreigners who reside in this -unfortunate country have some claim against the government in one way -or another. Many of these claims are really based on the denial of -real justice, while others have been fabricated throughout, as a good -speculation, which would enable the claimant to obtain money for some -imaginary wrong; for example, three days' imprisonment which was -intentionally provoked with the object of formulating a claim which -might be pushed to an exorbitant figure."[1] - -In face of the string of debts which arose from the loans themselves, -or from claims for damages suffered during the civil wars, the -governments could only succumb. The immorality of the fiscal agents -and the greed of the foreigner will explain these continual -bankruptcies, which constitute the financial history of America. - -The descendants of the prodigal Spanish conquerors, who knew nothing -of labour or thrift, have incessantly resorted to fresh loans in -order to fill the gaps in their budgets. Politicians knew of only -one solution of the economic disorder--to borrow, so that little by -little the Latin-American countries became actually the financial -colonies of Europe. - -Economic dependence has a necessary corollary--political servitude. -French intervention in Mexico was originally caused by the mass of -unsatisfied financial claims; foreigners, the creditors of the State, -were in favour of intervention. England and France, who began by -seeking to ensure the recovery of certain debts, finally forced a -monarch upon the debitor nation. The United States entertained the -ambition of becoming the sole creditor of the American peoples: this -remarkable privilege would {381} have assured them of an -incontestable hegemony over the whole continent. - -In the history of Latin America loans symbolise political disorder, -lack of foresight, and waste; it is thanks to loans that revolutions -are carried out, and it is by loans that the _caudillos_ have -enriched themselves. Old debts are liquidated by means of new, and -budgetary deficits are balanced by means of foreign gold. When the -poverty caused by political disorder becomes too great the American -governments clamour feverishly in the markets of Europe for the -hypothecation of the public revenues, and the issue of fresh funds, -offering to pay a high interest, and recognising the rights of -suspended creditors. - -On the one hand the budget is loaded to create new employments in -order to assuage the national appetite for sinecures, while the -protective tariffs are raised to enrich the State. Thus the forces -of production disappear, life becomes dearer, and poverty can only -increase. America has until lately known little of productive loans -intended for use in the construction of railways, irrigation works, -harbours, or for the organisation of colonies of immigrants. - -The product of the customs and other fiscal dues is not enough to -stimulate the material progress of a nation. So application is made -to the bankers of London or Paris; but it is the very excess of these -loan operations and the bad employment of the funds obtained that -impoverishes the continent. The excessive number of administrative -sinecures, the greed of the leaders, the vanity of governments, all -call for gold; and when the normal revenues are not sufficient to -enrich these hungry oligarchies, a loan which may involve the very -future of the country appears to all to be the natural remedy. - -The budgets of various States complicate still further a situation -already difficult. They increase beyond all measure, without the -slightest relation to {382} the progress made by the nation. They -are based upon taxes which are one of the causes of the national -impoverishment, or upon a protectionist tariff which adds greatly to -the cost of life. The politicians, thinking chiefly of appearances, -neglect the development of the national resources for the immediate -augmentation of the fiscal revenues; thanks to fresh taxes, the -budgets increase. These resources are not employed in furthering -profitable undertakings, such as building railroads or highways, or -increasing the navigability of the rivers. The bureaucracy is -increased in a like proportion, and the budgets, swelled in order to -dupe the outside world, serve only to support a nest of parasites. -In the economic life of these countries the State is a kind of -beneficent providence which creates and preserves the fortune of -individual persons, increases the common poverty by taxation, -display, useless enterprises, the upkeep of military and civil -officials, and the waste of money borrowed abroad; such is the -"alimentary politics" of which Le Play speaks. The government is the -public treasury; by the government all citizens live, directly or -indirectly, and the foreigner profits by exploiting the national -wealth. A centralising power, the State forces a golden livery upon -this bureaucratic mob of magistrates and deputies, political masters -and teachers. - -To sum up, the new continent, politically free, is economically a -vassal. This dependence is inevitable; without European capital -there would have been no railways, no ports, and no stable government -in America. But the disorder which prevails in the finances of the -country changes into a real servitude what might otherwise have been -a beneficial relation. By the accumulation of loans frequent crises -are provoked, and frequent occasions of foreign intervention. - -A policy of thrift would have led to the establishment of economic -equilibrium. Foreign gold has {383} poured in continually, not only -in the form of loans but in the shape of material works--railways, -ports, industries, and industrial undertakings. It is in this way -that English capital has accumulated in the Argentine, Uruguay, -Brazil, and Chili, where it has become a prominent factor in the -industrial development of the country. In the Argentine it amounts -to 300 millions, in Brazil to 150 millions, in Chili to 51 millions, -and in Uruguay to 46 millions of pounds sterling. - -New problems arise from the relation between the size of the -population and the amount of the capital imported. The increase of -alien wealth in nations which are not fertilised by powerful currents -of immigration constitutes a real danger. To pay the incessantly -increasing interest of the wealth borrowed, fresh sources of -production and a constant increase of economic exchanges are -necessary; in a word, a greater density of population. The -exhaustion of the human stock in the debitor nations creates a very -serious lack of financial equilibrium, which may result, not only in -bankruptcy but also in the loss of political independence by -annexation. - -The solution of the financial problem depends, then, upon the -solution of the problem of population. Immigrants will solve it by -increasing the number of productive units, by accumulating their -savings, by irresistible efforts which lay the foundations of solid -fortunes. It is true that the wealth which they will create will -also be of foreign origin, but in the second or third generation the -descendants of the enriched colonists will become true citizens of -the country in which their fathers have established themselves. They -will have forgotten their country of origin, and will mingle with the -old families which conserve the national traditions. - -The ideal of peoples whose economic condition is dependence is -naturally autonomy; without it all {384} liberty is precarious. A -considerable stream of exports flows from America to Europe to pay -for imports and the interest on foreign capital. Only this large -exportation of products, as in the case of the Argentine, Mexico, and -Brazil, can maintain a favourable commercial balance. The Argentine -economist Alberto Martinez has demonstrated that as in his country -there is neither an economic reserve nor a national capital, the -diminution of exports causes serious financial disturbances; exchange -is unstable, the rate rises, trade falls off, and credit is suspended. - -In other countries the economic system is instability itself. It -depends almost entirely on two or three agricultural -products--coffee, cane-sugar, and rubber--and the incessant -fluctuations in the prices of these products, which constitute the -wealth of the country. One does not observe the regularity of the -exports of the Argentine and Brazil, nor any important industrial -development. To remedy the lack of equilibrium in the budget and to -pay the interest on the foreign debt, the State, the guardian of the -public fortune, once more resorts to loans. The creation of a -national capital is thus an urgent necessity for these prodigal -democracies. - -By stimulating the development of agriculture, by creating or -protecting industry, by diminishing the budgetary charges by the -reduction of useless bureaucratic employments and sumptuary expenses, -the Latin-American governments could gradually establish the -necessary reserves. - -On the other hand, fiscal agreements, commercial treaties, and -railways must contribute to the solidarity of these nations among -themselves. Europe has invested vast sums of capital in America; she -sends thither large quantities of the products of her industries, but -there are peoples more favoured than others by this invasion of -capital. It should be possible by a series of practical conventions -to lay the foundations {385} of a _Zollverein_. The dependence of -certain republics as compared with others should tend to make them -commercially independent of Europe. Already a number of industries -are being developed in America; in Brazil their yield attains the -annual value of 46 million pounds; in 1909 the imports were -diminished by 3 million pounds in consequence of this new economic -factor. It may be supposed that in the still distant future the -agricultural peoples of America will buy the products of their -industrial neighbours, the Argentine, Brazil, and Uruguay. The -unification of the monetary system will still further facilitate the -development of this inter-state commerce, this trade between zones -almost exclusively agricultural, and other regions both agricultural -and industrial; thus closer economic relations will be the basis of a -lasting political understanding. No American republic has yet -reached the term of its economic development. - -We may distinguish three periods in the evolution of the nations -towards autonomy; during the first their dependence is absolute, in -respect of ideas as much as of men and capital; such is the present -situation of the majority of the Latin democracies. During the -second period agriculture suffices for the national necessities and -industry develops; the Argentine, Brazil, and Mexico are already in -this state of partial liberty. Finally, the period of agricultural -and industrial exportation commences, and the intellectual influence -of the country makes itself felt beyond the frontiers. After France -and England, Germany and the United States reached this glorious -phase. Neither Mexico nor the Argentine nor Brazil is as yet -flooding the world with its industrial products nor affecting it by -its original intellectual activities; there is no culture or -philosophy that we can properly term Argentine or Chilian. Europe is -tributary to the Argentine for her wheat and meats, {386} and to -Brazil for her coffee, but ideas and machines come from Paris, -London, and New York. - -M. Limantour, who tried to save the Mexican railways from the Yankee -capitalists, and the Argentine economists, who endeavoured to convert -the foreign into a national debt, are preparing the way for the -future reign of financial liberty; but this transformation depends on -the increase of public or private wealth and the activity of -immigrants, who in hospitable America soon become landed proprietors -or merchants. - -In the country districts, as in the cities, which are every day more -numerous, the common wealth and the fiscal revenues are increasing, -owing to the efforts of industrious men. Not only are foreign -industrial undertakings being founded, but national institutions -also, fed by national capital. When the necessary loans can be -subscribed in the country itself, when railways and ports are -constructed with State or private capital, or with the financial aid -of other South American governments; when American multi-millionaires -(there are already plenty of them in the Argentine) have effected the -nationalisation of the public works now in the hands of foreigners, -then the economic ideal of these democracies will be realised. - -Latin America may already be considered as independent from the -agricultural point of view; it possesses riches which are peculiar to -it: coffee to Brazil, wheat to the Argentine, sugar to Peru, fruits -and rubber to the Tropics. Its productive capacity is considerable. -It may rule the markets of the world. The systematic exploitation of -its mines will reveal treasures which are not even suspected. We may -say, then, that even without great industries the American continent, -independent in the agricultural domain, and an exporter of precious -metals, may win a doubtless precarious economic liberty. - - -[1] Cited by F. Bulnes, _El Verdadero Juarez_, Paris, 1904, p. 29. - - - - -{387} - -CONCLUSION - -AMERICA AND THE FUTURE OF THE LATIN PEOPLES - -The Panama Canal and the two Americas--The future conflicts between -Slavs, Germans, Anglo-Saxons, and Latins--The role of Latin America. - - -A new route offered to human commerce transforms the politics of the -world. The Suez Canal opened the legendary East to Europe, directed -the stream of European emigration towards Australia, and favoured the -formation, in South Africa, of an Anglo-Saxon Confederation. The -Panama Canal is destined to produce profound perturbations in the -equilibrium of the nations of the New World. Humboldt announced -these changes in 1804:[1] "The products of China will be brought more -than 6,000 miles nearer Europe and the United States; great changes -will take place in the political condition of eastern Asia, because -this tongue of earth (Panama) has for centuries been the rampart of -the independence of China and Japan." - -The Atlantic is to-day the ocean of the civilised world. The opening -of the canal will thus displace the political axis of the world. The -Pacific, an ocean separated from the civilising currents of Europe, -will receive directly from the Old World the wealth and products of -its labour and its emigrants. Until the present time the United -States {388} and Japan have shared in its rule as a _mare clausum_, -and they are disputing the supremacy in Asia and Western America. -Once the isthmus is pierced, new commercial peoples may invade with -their victorious industries the enchanted lands of Asia and the -distant republics of South America. New York will be nearer to -Callao, but the distance between Hamburg and Havre and the Peruvian -coast will be equally diminished. It has been calculated that by the -new route the voyage between Liverpool and the great ports of the -Pacific will be reduced by 2,600 to 6,000 miles, according to the -respective positions of the latter, and the distance between New York -and the same centres of commercial activity will be diminished by -1,000 to 8,400 miles. German, French, and English navigation -companies will run a service of modern vessels direct to the great -ports of Chili and China. The paths of the world's trade will be -changed; Panama will form the gate of civilisation to Eastern Asia -and Western America, as Suez is to Central Asia, Eastern Africa, and -Oceania. The Atlantic will become the ocean of the Old World. - -The trade of the new era must undergo unexpected transformations. -The influence of Europe in China and Western America will be -considerably increased. Germany should become the rival of the -United States in the commercial supremacy in the East and in the -republics of Latin America. Her vessels, messengers of imperialism, -which now make long voyages through the Straits of Magellan to reach -Valparaiso and Callao, will then employ the canal route. The vessels -of Japan will bear to Europe, as formerly did the Phoenician -navigators, the products of the exotic Orient; New York will dethrone -Antwerp, Hamburg, and Liverpool; the English will lose their historic -position as intermediaries between Europe and Asia. The United -States, masters of {389} the canal, will create in New York a great -fair in which the merchandise of East and West will be accumulated: -the treasures of Asia, the gold of Europe, and the products of their -own overgrown industries. They will thus have won an economic -hegemony over the Pacific, South America, and China, where they will -be at least privileged competitors in the struggle between England -and Germany. Between New York and Hong Kong, New York and Yokohama, -and New York and Melbourne new commercial relations will be -established. In approaching New York the East will recede from -Liverpool and the ports of Europe, and the Panama route will favour -the industries of the United States in Asia and Oceania. It may -already be foreseen that the United States will be terrible -competitors in Australia, and above all in New Zealand, where they -will drive the English merchants from the markets. It is difficult -to write, like Tarde, a "fragment of future history"; too many -unknown forces intervene in the historical drama of the peoples. But -no doubt, unless some extraordinary event occurs to disturb the -evolution of the modern peoples, the great nations of industrial -Europe and Japan, the champion of Asiatic integrity, will oppose the -formidable progress of the United States. - -The canal sets a frontier to Yankee ambition; it is the southern -line, the "South Coast Line" of which a North American politician, -Jefferson, used to dream. As early as 1809 he believed that Cuba and -Canada would become incorporated, as States of the Union, in the -immense Confederation; anticipating the rude lyrics of Walt Whitman, -he dreamed of founding "an empire of liberty so vast that the like -has never been seen." Heirs to the Anglo-Saxon genius, the Americans -of the North wish to form a democratic federation. - -They have succeeded in doing in Cuba what Japan {390} has done in -Korea: first, the struggle for autonomy, then the necessary -intervention, then a protectorate, and perhaps annexation. Thus the -prophecy of Jefferson will be realised. Between Canada, an -autonomous colony, and the United States, there are common economic -interests, and commercial treaties have created such a plexus of -interests that the evolution from these practical alliances to -political union would seem to be a simple matter. The disintegration -of the Anglo-Saxon Empire will be the work of the United States. -American activities in Canada are steadily increasing; the Yankee -capital employed in various Canadian industries amounts to -£20,000,000. Trade is increasing, and by virtue of new conventions -the United States will be even better situated than ever to dispute -the Canadian markets with England. In this free colony there is a -Far West which the States have peopled. The East is Anglo-Saxon, -industrial, aristocratic; the West, barbarian and agrarian, desires -union with the neighbouring democracy. Münsterberg reports that a -Boston journal prints every day, in large letters, on the first page, -that the first duty of the United States is the annexation of Canada. - -The friendship of England, and the moral harmony of the -English-speaking world, will perhaps check the progress of American -imperialism northward; but the capital which develops and exploits -the west of Canada is a competitor which cannot be resisted. -Moreover, such men as Goldwin Smith, a moral authority in Canada, -counsel union with the great Republican neighbour. Free trade, which -the English radicals wish to maintain, relaxes the economic ties -which might ensure the duration of the British Empire, and prevents -the formation of a _Zollverein_, of that fiscal union between Great -Britain and her colonies which was the great project of Chamberlain. -It is to guarantee commercial and economic {391} interests that -Canada is approaching the United States and withdrawing from England. - -Mexico, where £100,000,000 of American capital is invested; Panama, a -republic subjected to the protectorate of the Anglo-Saxon North; the -Canal Zone, which the Yankees have acquired as a remote southern -possession; the Antilles, which they are gradually absorbing; Central -America, where ever turbulent republics tolerate pacificatory -intervention; and Canada, rich and autonomous, form, for the -statesmen of Washington and the Yellow Press, a great and desirable -empire. In two centuries the small Puritan colonies of the Atlantic -seaboard will perhaps have come to govern the continent from the Pole -to the Tropics; and will create, with the aid of all the races of -mankind, a new Anglo-Saxon humanity, industrial and democratic. Thus -the Roman Republic, from her narrow home between the Apennines, -governed the world, as did Great Britain, peopled by a tenacious -race, the sea. - -To check the advance of the United States the South will lack a -political force of the same weight. The conflict between the united -Americans of the North and the divided inhabitants of the South will -necessarily terminate fatally for the Latin New World. - -The Pacific will be the theatre of racial wars and vast and -transforming emigrations. Once the canal is open it is extremely -probable that European emigrants will descend in large numbers upon -the seaboard of Western America. Brazil and the Argentine attract -the modern adventurer; their Eldorado is in the Argentine plains or -the forests of Brazil. Venezuela, invaded by emigrants of Germanic -race, will be born again; a dense population will fill her valleys, -and Caracas will become a great Latin city. But in Colombia, Peru, -Ecuador, and Bolivia, there is a great lack of centres of -civilisation in the {392} interior, and the sierra is largely wild -and unpeopled; all progress is in the small towns of the coast, set -amidst the aridity of the desert. Chinese and Japanese, who are -content with low wages, are crushing the European worker by their -competition. Japanese colonies will people the American West from -Panama to Chili, and in these new countries the fusion of Japanese -and Indian blood is by no means impossible. - -There will always be two distinct regions in South America, separated -by the Andes and divided by the Tropics. The Atlantic region will -retain its liberty, and increase in wealth and in power. It is -possible that the south of Brazil will become German, but the -Argentine, Chili, Uruguay, and the great Brazilian States will defend -the Latin heritage and European tradition. To the north and the west -depopulated and divided nations will struggle against an invasion of -peoples of similar races coming from the east and against a -conquering people from the north. Thanks to the protection of Japan, -they may be able to free themselves from the tutelage of the United -States, or they may be able to hold off the subjects of the Mikado by -submitting to the influence of North America. Only the federation of -all the Latin republics under the pressure of Europe--that is to say, -of England, France, and Italy, who have important markets in -America--might save the nations of the Pacific, just as a century ago -Great Britain was able to defend the autonomy of these peoples -against the mystic projects of the Holy Alliance. - -The Monroe doctrine, which prohibits the intervention of Europe in -the affairs of America and angers the German imperialists, the -professors of external expansion, like Münsterberg, may become -obsolete. If Germany or Japan were to defeat the United States, this -tutelary doctrine would be only a melancholy memory. Latin America -would emerge {393} from the isolation imposed upon it by the Yankee -nation, and would form part of the European concert, the combination -of political forces--alliances and understandings--which is the basis -of the modern equilibrium. It would become united by political ties -to the nations which enrich it with their capital and buy its -products. - -Japan has not lost her originality as an Asiatic nation, because she -is united to England by a treaty which assures the _status quo_ in -the East. The Latin republics will not renounce their character as -American nations because they may conclude understandings with the -nations of the West. Already there are commercial treaties between -these nations and Europe, as well as a harmony of economic and -intellectual interests. Brazil and the Argentine, where British -money and French ideals prevail, might themselves unite to form a -vast combination of alliances with the group of European nations -which conquered, civilised, and enriched America: that is, Spain, -France, and England. Will not a community of interests in America -give a new strength to the union of these peoples in Europe? Great -political changes would result from these new influences: the -American Latins, by entering into the combinations of European -politics, would divide Italy, whose interests in the Argentine and -Brazil are so great, from the Triple Alliance, and would strengthen -the understanding between England and France against Germany, which -disputes with them not only the hegemony of Europe but also the -preponderance in America. Canning, who opposed the designs of the -Holy Alliance, used to say a century ago that he had given the New -World liberty in order to restore equilibrium to the Old World. -Against the theocratic peoples who were seeking to overshadow the -destinies of the earth he evoked the apparition of these free -democracies destined to {394} establish the benefits of liberty on a -firm footing. His hope was premature, because it was hardly possible -for perfect republics to rise from the ruins of Spanish absolutism. -Even to-day, after a century of attempts at constitutional -government, only a few Latin American States--the Argentine, Brazil, -Chili, Peru, and Bolivia--seem capable of fulfilling the desires of -Canning. - -These peoples would contribute to the defence of the Latin ideal. -But is not this an excessive ambition for nations still -semi-barbarous? The old races of the West contemplate their -impetuous advance with much the same distrust as that which Rome -experienced as she watched the turbulent migrations of Goths and -Germans. And even if the Latin race could check its irremediable -decadence by the aid of the wealth and youth of these American -peoples, would it really be profitable to oppose the triumph of the -Anglo-Saxons and the Slavs for the sake of saving a fallen caste? -Seventy years ago Tocqueville visited the United States and divined -their future greatness. To-day M. Clemenceau, a politician and a -great admirer of the North American Republic, praises the Latin -vigour, as he sees it in Buenos-Ayres, Uruguay, and Rio de Janeiro. -The Yankee republic has realised the prophecies of the former critic, -and it would not be strange if the southern democracies of America -were to confirm the optimism of the latter. A new energy, undeniable -material progress, and a fertile creative faith announce the advent, -in the new continent, if not of the Eldorado of which the hungry -emigrant dreams, at least of wealthy nations, rich in industry and -agriculture; the advent of a world in which the glorious age of the -exhausted Latin world may renew itself, as in the classic fountain. -When Emerson visited England fifty years ago he declared that the -heart of the Britannic race was in the United States, and that {395} -the "mother island," exhausted, would some day, like many parents, be -satisfied with the vigour which she had bestowed upon her own -children.[2] In speaking of Spain and Portugal, might not -Argentines, Brazilians, and Chilians employ the same proud language? - -The decadence of the Latins, which seems obvious to the sociologist, -may really be only a long period of abeyance. The adventures in -which such an exuberant force of heroism was expended might well -result in a reaction, a weariness after creation. At the beginning -of the modern period, in the sixteenth century, the English, -undisciplined adventurers, were hostile to the regularity and -monotony of industrial life; in the nineteenth century they built an -empire, organised a powerful industrialism, and became slow and -methodical; and in 1894 Dr. Karl Pearson was uneasy as to "the -decadence of British energy which is revealed by the adoption of -State socialism and by the poverty of mechanical invention."[3] - -In the future the Latins may regain their old virility. The -_ricorsi_ which Vico saw in history cause certain peoples to recover -the pre-eminence they have lost, while others, prosperous nations, -fall back into decadence; no privilege is eternal, no reaction is -irremediable and inevitable. - - "Multa renascentur quæ jam cecidere, cadentque - Quæ nunc sunt in honore...." - - -The imperial policy of Charles V. and Philip II., the conquest of a -continent by the Spaniards, Portuguese, and French, the glorious -festival of the Renaissance, the triumph of Lepanto, the splendid -empire of Venice, the political activity of Richelieu, {396} the -great century of French classicism, the Revolution which proclaimed -the Rights of Man, and the Napoleonic epic, the liberation of Spanish -America: this is the hymn of glory of the Latin race. To-day -Belgium, Italy, and the Argentine give signs of a renaissance of that -race, which men have supposed to be exhausted. - -Heirs of the Latin spirit in the moral, religious, and political -domain, the Ibero-American peoples are seeking to conserve their -glorious heritage. The idea of race, in the sense of traditions and -culture, is predominant in modern politics. Flourishing on every -hand, we see Pan-Slavism, Pan-Islamism, Pan-Asianism, Pan-Germanism, -Pan-Latinism--barbarous words which give an indication as to the -struggles of the future. The Slavs of Dalmatia, Germany, Servia, and -Bosnia would reconstitute, with the fragments of many divided -nations, a State which would also be a race. Islam unites divers -peoples by the ardour of a new fanaticism, under the inspiration of -popular Khalifs or marabouts, from Soudan to Fez, from Bombay to -Stamboul. Vast unions of scattered peoples are thus springing into -formation, in the name of a religion or a common origin. Slavs, -Saxons, Latins, and Mongols are contending for the possession of the -world. It is thus that the drama of history becomes simplified; -above the quarrels of precarious nations are rising the profound -antagonisms of millennial races. - -Onésime Reclus, in an excellent volume, the _Partage du monde_, has -gone into the respective positions of each of these powerful groups. -The conclusions of his analysis are full of hope; in spite of the -Saxons and Slavs the Latins still hold vast territories, which they -must people. Their geographical position, despite Anglo-Saxon -imperialism and the immense surface of all the Russias of Europe and -Asia, is certainly not inferior. - -{397} - -There are a hundred million Slavs scattered over an immense Asiatic -and European territory, which stretches from Vladivostock to the -Baltic Sea; two and a half milliards of hectares are waiting for the -children of this prodigious race. By uniting the peoples of Norway, -Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland to the Germans of -Austria, the German race, whether it propagates the gospel of -Pan-Germanism by commercial penetration or by violence, possesses -about 100 million hectares for 93 millions of men. The Anglo-Saxons, -the natural enemies of German expansion, the rivals of the -_Deutschtum_ in Asia, Africa, and America, rule an almost unlimited -area of milliards of hectares; India, Canada, the United States, -South Africa, Egypt, Australia, conquered territories and kingdoms -held in tutelage, peoples of all faiths and all races. More than 200 -millions of Anglo-Saxons people this "greater Britain" without -including India, which is not assimilable. - -The territory occupied by the Latin peoples in Europe, America, and -Africa is 3.9 million hectares, inhabited by 250 millions of men; the -number of Latins is thus not really inferior to that of the -Anglo-Saxons, nor are the territories open to Latin expansion -inferior to those reserved for the rival race. With the French -colonies in Asia they amount to 4 milliards of hectares. - -Here we have a Latin superiority; by the extent of their territories -and their numbers the Latins outnumber the Slavs and the Germans. -They do not yield to the English either in human capital nor in -wealth of exploitable territory. And England has reached the zenith -of her industrial period, the maximum of her political development; -the figures of the birth-rate in the industrial towns are -diminishing, and emigration has almost ceased. The State is becoming -the protector of a demagogic and decadent {398} crowd. The United -States seek to conquer new territories for their imperialist race. -But the Latins possess in South America a rich and almost uninhabited -continent, and in the north of Africa the French are in process of -founding a colonial empire which will rival Egypt in wealth and -importance, and will reach from Morocco to the Congo and from Dakar -to Tunis. - -Reclus calculates that Latin America could feed a hundred persons per -square kilometre. While the natality of the Anglo-Saxon cities of -the Atlantic seaboard in the United States remains stationary the -Latin American population is increasing prodigiously; it is to-day 80 -millions, and a century ago, when Humboldt visited the New World, it -was approximately only 15 millions. It is possible that by the last -years of the present century the number of South Americans will have -reached 250 millions; the equilibrium between Latins and Anglo-Saxons -will then be broken in favour of the former. - -America is thus an essential factor of the future of the Latin -nations. The destiny of France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy would be -different if the 80 millions of Latin Americans were to lose their -racial traditions; if in a century or two America were to pass under -the sceptre of the United States, or if the Germans and Anglo-Saxons -were to attack and oppress the nucleus of civilisation formed by the -Argentine, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil. Economically America would -lose markets; intellectually, docile colonies; practically, centres -of expansion. To-day Anglo-Saxons, Germans, Slavs, and Neo-Latins -are balancing forces which may develop in harmony in the framework of -Christian civilisation without wars of conquest and without ambitions -of monopoly. The moral unity of South America would contribute to -the realisation of such an ideal. A new Anglo-Saxon continent -running from Alaska {399} to Cape Horn, built on the ruins of twenty -Spanish republics, would be the presage of a final decadence. In the -struggles of hundreds of years' duration between the Latin States and -the barbarians, between Catholicism and Protestantism, between the -French genius and the Teutonic spirit, between the Renaissance and -the Reformation, the Latins would have lost the last battle. - -America is a laboratory of free peoples. Dr. Charles W. Eliott, -rector of the great University of Harvard, has studied the -contribution of the United States to modern civilisation. -Arbitration as a universal principle, toleration, universal suffrage, -material well-being, and political liberty seem to him to be the -characteristics of North American culture. In the Latin South we -encounter similar principles. Arbitration is the basis of -international relations; tolerance from the religious point of view -is in process of development. Political liberty is still more a -matter of Constitutions than of custom; but the liberal political -charters, adapted to the principles of modern civilisation, are the -ideal of these republics. When the wilderness is peopled by new -races, democracies will grow to maturity within this scaffolding, and -universal suffrage, individual rights and tolerance will be realities. - -In Latin America, above all among the southern nations, one cannot -conceive of the restoration of the old social order, or of despotism -and religious inquisition. The new continent, whether Saxon or -Latin, is democratic and liberal. - -If as in the time of the Holy Alliance the theocratic peoples were to -ally themselves--Catholic and warlike Austria, Germany, dominated by -Prussian feudalism, Russia, mystic and formidable--the whole American -continent would be the bulwark of liberty. If Germans and Latins or -Latins and Anglo-Saxtons were to fight between themselves the -overseas {400} democracies would greatly contribute to the vitality -of the Latin race. If in a Europe dominated by Slavs and Germans the -peoples of the Mediterranean were forced to withdraw in painful -exodus towards the blue sea peopled by the Greek islands and symbols -old as the world, it is probable that the ancient myth would be -realised anew, and that the torch which bears the ideal of Latin -civilisation would pass from Paris to Buenos-Ayres or Rio de Janeiro, -as it passed from Rome to Paris in the modern epoch, or from Greece -to Rome in the classic period. America, to-day desert and divided, -would save the culture of France and Italy, the heritage of the -Revolution and the Renaissance, and would thus have justified to the -utmost the fortunate audacity of Christopher Columbus. - - -[1] _Essai sur le gouvernement de la Nouvelle Espagne_, vol. i. - -[2] _Works_, vol. ii. p. 160. - -[3] _National Life and Character_, pp. 102 _et seq_. - - - - -{401} - -INDEX - -_Names in italics are those of literary men, philosophers, &c._ - -NDX - -A.B.C., the (federation), 348-9 - -Aberdeen, Lord, 64 - -Absolutism, 51 - -_Acosta_, 247 - -African elements in Spain, 40-1 - -African race, _see_ Negroes - -Agriculture, 384-5 - -_Alberdi_, 236 - -Alcantara, President of Venezuela, 110 - -Alva, Duke of, 30 - -America, Anglo-Saxon, 16, _see_ United States - -America, South, the conquest of, 16, 44; early Constitutions, 82 - -Anarchy, military (86-94); leads to dictatorship, 88; spontaneity of, -89; in Colombia, 201; in the tropics, 222-31 - -Andes, San Martin crosses the, 67 - -_Andrade_, 183, 256-7 - -Antilles, the, 222 - -Arabs in Spain, 40-1 - -Aranda, 64 - -_Aranha, Graça_, 268 - -Arbitration, Court of, 347, 399 - -Argentine, the, 48, 77-8; first Constitution of, 83; 92 (134-46); -revolution in, 134; early Constitutions, 134; federation of, 135; -democracy in, 135; Constitution of 1826, 137-8 - -Artigas, 89, 127 - -Autocracy, follows revolution, 88, 93 - -_Avellanada_, 255 - -Ayacucho, 71 - -_Ayagarray_, 307 - -Aztecs, the, 47, 53, 149 - - - -_BALMES_, 274 - -Balmaceda, President of Chili, 170-8 - -_Barreto_, 273 - -Basques in S. America, 364 - -Belgrano, 61, 66 - -_Bello_, 246, 251-2, 272 - -_Bentham_, 245 - -_Bilbao_, 236-7 - -Blanco-Encalada, 125 - -Bolivar, 61, 63-9; youth of, 70; as general, 71; President, 71; -downfall of, 72; character and principles, 72-80, 81-3, 102, 113, -122-3 - -Bolivia, 80, 122-6 - -Bonaparte, 88, 91 - -_Bourget, Paul_, 15 - -Boyer, President of Hayti, 229 - -Brazil (180-90); revolution in, 180; slavery abolished, 189; -revolution in, 189 - -Buenos Ayres, 65 - -_Bunge, C. O._, 279 - -Bustamente, 150-1 - -Bureaucracy, 376-7 - - - -CABILDO, the, 98 - -California, Japanese in, 326 - -Canning, 393-4 - -Canovas, 314 - -Carabobo, 76 - -Caracas, Congress of, 348 - -_Caro_, 253-4 - -Carrera (Guatemalan), 224 - -Casimiro-Ulloa, 117 - -Castes, inimical, 91, 370 - -Castillo, 115-6 - -Castro, General, 105 - -Catholicism in S. America, 286 - -Caudillos, the, 16, 89, 94-5, 365-70 - -Central America, 83, 222-6; confederation of, 347 - -Chamberlain, Mr., 346 - -Charrua Indians, 131 - -Chibcha Indians, 47 - -Chili, 48, 92, 104 (164-79); social revolution in, 178, 342 - -Chivalry, literature of, 34 - -Church, the, in the colonies, 52-3 - -Cid, the, 34 - -Cities of Spain, 30, 33, 38, 40 - -Civil wars, 371 - -Clemenceau, M., 15 - -Clergy in Spain, 42 - -Cochrane, Lord, 68 - -_Coolidge, Professor_, 321, 335 - -Colombia (201-12); anarchy in, 201; parties, 202-3 - -Colonies, the Spanish (44-57); life in, 54-7; revolution, 58 - -Commune in Spain, 38 - -_Comte_, 274-5 - -Conquest of S. America, 16 - -Conquistadores, the, 45-8, 93 - -Constitutions of Chili and Venezuela, 82; of Bolivia, the Argentine, -and Colombia, 83; of Venezuela, 103; of Chili, 104; of Venezuela, -105; of Colombia, 203-4; of Greater Colombia, 204; of Ecuador, 214; -of Central America, 233 - -Convention, the French, 88 - -Cortez, 45 - -Costa-Rica, 225-6 - -Creole, the, 29, 50, 59, 360-1 - -Cuba (313-22); civil war in, 315; purchase mooted, 317; racial -factors, 318 - - - -_DARIO, RUBEN_, 261-5 - -Decadence of conquerors, 44, 50, 85 - -Democracy in Spain, 37-40; in S. America, 93 - -_Diaz, G._, 255-6 - -_Diaz, Leopoldo_, 258 - -Diaz, President of Mexico, 77, 155-63 - -Dictators, the, 16 - -Directory of Buenos Ayres, 82 - -Don Quixote, 34 - - - -ECHENIQUE, President of Peru, 115 - -_Echeverria_, 254 - -Economic Problems (378-86); loans, 379, 381; foreign capital, 383 - -Ecuador, 92-3 (213-21) - -Encyclopædists, the, 65, 81 - -England, policy of, 64; influence of, 83, 390 - -Equalitarianism, 63 - -_Estrade, Angel de_, 268 - - - -FALCON, President of Venezuela, 106-7 - -Faustinas I. of Hayti, 229 - -Federation, in Spain, 35; Bolivar's prophecies of, 77; _see_ Unity - -Feijó, Diego, 184-5 - -Feudal system, 30, 38 - -Flores, Dictator of Uruguay, 132-3 - -Flores, J. J., founder of Ecuador, 87, 213 - -_Fombona, Blanco_, 265, 268 - -_Fouillée_, 277 - -_France, Anatole_, 15 - -France, intellectual influence of, 81-2 - -Francia, Dr., tyrant of Paraguay, 191-5 - -Free cities of Spain, 30, 35, 40 - - - -GARCIA-MORENO, President of Ecuador, 215-21 - -German capital, 292-4 - -German colonists, 291-7 - -German Emperor, the, 323 - -German Peril, the, 290-7 - -Gongorism, 34 - -Goths, the, 41 - -Guarani Indians, 191 - -Guatemala, 223 - -Guayaquil, 213 - -_Guizot_, 245 - -_Guyau_, 278 - -Guzman-Blanco, Dictator of Venezuela, 101, 106-8; policy of -reconstruction, 108-10; return to power, 110-12 - - - -HALF-CASTES, 93, 338; _see_ Mestizos - -Hawaii, annexation of 303; Japanese in, 325-6 - -Hayti, 226-31 - -Heredity, in the Spanish republics, 97 - -Hispaniola, 226 - -_Hostos, E. de_, 272-3 - -_Hugo, Victor_, 261, 263 - -_Humboldt_, 50 - - - -IBERIANS, 31-2, 40-1 - -Ibero-Americans, 283-9 - -Ideology, political, 235-48 - -Ignatius of Loyola, 33 - -Incas, the, 47 - -Independence, wars of, 29, 58-81 - -Indians, at conquest, 46-8, 91; distribution of, 93, 352-3 - -Individualism, in Spain, 31-5; in S. America, 88 - -Industrialism, rise of, 94-6 - -Inquisition, the, 42, 52 - -Isthmus, States of the, 77 - -Itaborahy, 186 - -Italians in South America, 364 - -Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico, 61, 82, 149-50 - - - -JACOBINISM, 81 - -Japan, 393 - -Japanese Peril (323-31); emigrants, 327; spies, 329 - -_Jaurès_, 15 - -João VI., 180-2 - -Juarez, Mexican Dictator, 152-5 - -Junin, 71,76 - -Juntas, 30; colonial, 60; revolutionary, 84 - - - -KING, _see_ Monarchy - - - -LA PAZ, revolt at, 65 - -La Plata, confederation of, 343 - -_Lamartine_, 244-5 - -Lansdowne, Lord, 83 - -_Larreta, E. R._, 269 - -_Lastarria_, 236-9 - -Latifundia, 92, 98 - -Latin race, the, 17; future of the, (387-400); decadence of, 395 - -Latin spirit, the, 17; in S. America, 287-9 - -Lavalleja, President of Uruguay, 127-9, 131 - -Law, influence of Spanish, 54 - -_Lee, Gen. Homer_, 325 - -Liberators, the, 66 - -Liniers, 65 - -Literature, 249-70 - -Lodges, revolutionary, 65-81 - -Lopez, Argentine _caudillo_, 89, 139 - -Lopez, tyrants of Paraguay, 196 - -Loyola, 33 - -_Lugones_, 265 - - - -MAIA, J. J. de, 82 - -"Maine," sinking of the, 315 - -_Marmol_, 254-5 - -Marti, 315 - -Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, 154-5 - -Mestizos, 103, 356-60 - -Mexico, 48; first Constitution of, 83, 92-3 (149-63); intervention of -the French, 153 - -Militarism, 86-94 - -_Mill, James_, 272 - -_Mill, J. S._, 274-5 - -Miranda, 66, 81, 83 - -Miscegenation, 48-50; in Peru, 194; _see_ Indians, Mestizos, Negro, -Race - -Monagas, J. T. and J. G., Presidents of Venezuela, 103-5 - -Monagas, J. R., President of Venezuela, 107 - -Monarchy in Spain, 35-8; its relations at time of revolution with the -revolted colonies, 60-1, 63 - -Monks, 52-3 - -Monopoly, 51-2 - -Monroe Doctrine, 290-1, 302-4, 392 - -_Montalvo_, 239-40 - -Montezuma, 48 - -Montt, President of Chili, 168-9 - -Mosquera, President of Colombia 206-7 - -_Münsterberg, Professor_, 294 - -Mystics of Spain, 33 - - - -_NABUCO, J._, 274 - -Nationality, early phases of, 84 - -Negroes, first introduction of, 49, 50; distribution of, 53, 355-6, -358-9 - -_Nervo, A._, 265 - -New Granada, 77 - -_Nietzsche_, 278 - -North American Peril, 298-312 - -Nuñez, Rafael, President of Colombia, 201, 206-11, 276 - - - -_OLMEDO_, 251 - -Olney, Secretary, 300 - -Orbegoso, 123 - -Ordoñez, President of Uruguay, 132 - -Oribe, President of Uruguay, 129 - - - -PACIFIC, Confederation of the, 343 - -Paez, President of Venezuela, 61, 87, 91, 101-6 - -_Palma, R._, 267 - -Panama, 303; the Canal, 387-8 - -Pando, 126 - -Paraguay, 191-7; the great war in, 196-7 - -_Pardo, Felipe_, 252 - -Pardo, President of Peru, 117-9 - -Paz, 140 - -_Pearson, Karl_, 362 - -Pedro, Dom, I., 182 - -Pedro, Dom, II., 185-6, 188 - -Pelucones, 92 - -Peru, 68, 70-1; first Constitution, 82; 92-3 (113-121); War of -Independence, 113, 342 - -Philosophy, 271-80 - -Picaro, the, in literature, 34, 43 - -Pierola, President of Peru, 120 - -Pitt, 83 - -Plutocracy, rise of, 94; future of, 97 - -Poincaré, R., 14 - -Political conflict, the, 92; problems, 365-77 - -Popham, Sir Home, 65 - -Portales, President of Chili, 118, 124, 165-8 - -Porto Rico, 303 - -Portuguese in S. America, 45-6 - -Posadas, 61 - - - -_QUINTANA_, 250, 252 - -Quiroga, General, 139-40 - -Quito, 65 - - - -RACE, problems of, 283-9, 351-64 - -Regenerators, the, 87 - -Renaissance, the, 45 - -Republics, early S. American, 39, 61 - -Revolutions, 65-81; ideology of, 81-5; 94 - -_Reyles, Carlos_, 206-9 - -Rio Branco, 187 - -Rivadavia, Dictator of the Argentine, 135-8 - -Rivera, President of Uruguay, 127-30 - -Rocafuerte, President of Ecuador, 214 - -_Rodo, J. E._, 133, 264, 266, 274 - -Rome, in Spain, 33 - -Roosevelt, Theodore, 304, 318 - -Root, Secretary, 300 - -Rosas, Argentine tyrant, 139-46 - -_Rousseau, J. J._, influence of, 81 - - - -_SALAVERRY_, 123-4, 254 - -Salisbury, Lord, 300 - -Salvador, 223 - -San Domingo, 226-31 - -San Martin, Protector of Peru, crosses the Andes, 67, 68-9, 72 - -_San Martin, Zorilla_, 256 - -Sancho Panza, 53 - -Santa-Ana, President of Mexico, 150-1 - -Santa-Cruz, President of Bolivia, 87, 114, 125 - -Santana, Dictator of San Domingo, 230 - -Santander, President of Colombia, 87, 205 - -_Sarmiento_, 242-3 - -Sierra, the, 91-2 - -_Silva, J. A._, 265 - -Slavery, 104; abolished in Brazil, 189 - -Slavs, the, 394-5, 397 - -Soublette, 103 - -Spain, early history of, 30-43; religion in, 33; laws of, in S. -America, 285 - -_Spencer, Herbert_, 86, 274-6 - -Stoicism, 33 - -Sucre, 70-1, 213 - - - -TAFT, President, 320 - -Tammany Hall, 301, 320 - -Teresa, Saint, 33 - -Territorial overlords, 97-8 - -"Thirty-three, the," 128 - -Toussaint Louverture, 228-9 - -Trade, future of, 388-9 - -Tyranny, advantages of, 96 - - - -_UGARTE, MANUEL_, 266 - -United States, supremacy of, 299 intervention in South and Central -America, 303-4; race troubles in, 308, 311; future influence of, 390-1 - -Unity, problems of, 335-50 - -Urbina, President of Ecuador, 215! - -Uruguay, 127-33 - - - -VALENCIA, Convention of, 105 - -Varas, 168 - -Vargas, Dr., President of Venezuela, 102 - -Velasco, 125-6 - -Venezuela, 82, 92-3, 101-3; civil war in, 106; revolution of 1870, 108 - -_Verlaine_, 263 - -Viceroys, the, 51 - -_Vivanco_, 115 - -_Voltaire_, 81 - - - -WASHINGTON, 82 - -Weyler, 315 - -Wood, General, 318-9 - - - -YEGROS, Consul of Paraguay, 192 - - - -ZALDUA, DR., President of Colombia, 211 - -Zambos, 358-9 - -Zollverein, 305-6, 346, 349 - -ENDX - - - The Gresham Press - UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, - WOKING AND LONDON - - - - - - - -THE SOUTH AMERICAN SERIES. - -Demy 8vo, Cloth. - - -VOL. I.--CHILE. - -By G. F. SCOTT ELLIOT, M.A., F.R.G.S., Author of "A NATURALIST IN -MID-AFRICA." With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a Map, and 39 -Illustrations. - -"An exhaustive and interesting account, not only of the turbulent -history of this country, but of the present conditions and seeming -prospects, ... and the characters of the Chileno and English and -German colonists there."--_Westminster Gazette_. - - -VOL. II.--PERU. - -By C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S., Author of "THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON." -With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a Map, and 72 Illustrations. - -"An important work.... The writer possesses a quick eye and a keen -intelligence, is many-sided in his interests, and on certain subjects -speaks as an expert. The volume deals fully with the development of -the country.... Illustrated by a large number of excellent -photographs."--_Times_. - - -VOL. III.--MEXICO. - -By C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S. With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a -Map, and 64 full-page Illustrations. - -"Mr. Enock unites to a terse and vivid literary style the commercial -instinct and trained observation of a shrewd man of -affairs."--_Aberdeen Free Press_. - -"Mr. Enock transmutes the hard material of ancient chronicles into -gleaming romance; he describes scenery with a poet's skill. Full of -charm he makes his pages, alluring as a fairy tale, an epic stirring -and virile."--_Manchester City News_. - - -VOL. IV.--ARGENTINA. - -By W. A. HIRST. With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a Map, and 64 -Illustrations. - -"The best and most comprehensive of recent works on the greatest and -most progressive of the Republics of South America."--_Manchester -Guardian_. - -"In the treatment of both the main divisions of a complex theme, the -historical and descriptive, Mr. Hirst shows judgment and skill that -are decidedly rare.... Mr. Hirst's exceedingly able and interesting -book."--_Westminster Gazette_. - -"A very interesting and trustworthy survey of the present conditions -and prospects of the country."--_Times_. - - -VOL. V.--BRAZIL. - -By PIERRE DENIS. With Historical Chapter by BERNARD MIALL, a Map, and -36 Illustrations. - -"It is a mine of information, arranged with all the lucidity of a -Frenchman; and in one case, in the long chapter devoted to the -valorization of coffee, the treatment deserves to be called -masterly."--_Globe_. - - -VOL. VI.--URUGUAY. - -By W. H. KOEBEL. With a Map and 55 Illustrations. - - -VOL. VII.--GUIANA: BRITISH, FRENCH, AND DUTCH. - -By JAMES RODWAY. With a Map and 36 Illustrations. - - -VOL. VIII.--VENEZUELA. - -By LEONARD DALTON, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. With a Map and 34 Illustrations. - - -VOL. IX.--LATIN AMERICA: ITS RISE AND PROGRESS. - -By F. GARCIA CALDERON. With a Preface by RAYMOND POINCARÉ, Prime -Minister of France, a Map, and 34 Illustrations. - - -VOL. X.--COLOMBIA. - -By P. J. EDER. With 2 Maps and 40 Illustrations. - - - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Latin America: Its Rise and Progress, by -F. Garcia Calderon - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LATIN AMERICA: ITS RISE AND PROGRESS *** - -***** This file should be named 62541-8.txt or 62541-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/5/4/62541/ - -Produced by Al Haines -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Garcia Calderon -</title> - -<style type="text/css"> -body { color: black; - background: white; - margin-right: 10%; - margin-left: 10%; - font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; - text-align: justify } - -p {text-indent: 4% } - -p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } - -p.t1 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 200%; - text-align: center } - -p.t2 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 150%; - text-align: center } - -p.t2b {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 150%; - font-weight: bold; - text-align: center } - -p.t3 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 100%; - text-align: center } - -p.t3b {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 100%; - font-weight: bold; - text-align: center } - -p.t4 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 80%; - text-align: center } - -p.t4b {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 80%; - font-weight: bold; - text-align: center } - -p.t5 {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 60%; - text-align: center } - -h1 { text-align: center } -h2 { text-align: center } -h3 { text-align: center } -h4 { text-align: center } -h5 { text-align: center } - -p.poem {text-indent: 0%; - margin-left: 10%; } - -p.thought {text-indent: 0% ; - letter-spacing: 4em ; - text-align: center } - -p.letter {text-indent: 0%; - margin-left: 10% ; - margin-right: 10% } - -p.contents {text-indent: 0%; - margin-left: 10% ; - margin-right: 10% } - -p.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; - font-size: 80%; - margin-left: 10% ; - margin-right: 10% } - -.smcap { font-variant: small-caps } - -p.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; - margin-left: 10% ; - margin-right: 10% } - -p.index {text-indent: -5% ; - margin-left: 5% ; - margin-top: 0% ; - margin-bottom: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -p.intro {font-size: 90% ; - text-indent: -5% ; - margin-left: 5% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -p.bookintro {font-size: 90% ; - text-indent: 0% ; - margin-left: 10% ; - margin-right: 10% } - -p.quote {text-indent: 4% ; - margin-left: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -p.report {text-indent: 4% ; - margin-left: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -p.finis { font-size: larger ; - text-align: center ; - text-indent: 0% ; - margin-left: 0% ; - margin-right: 0% } - -p.capcenter { margin-left: 0; - margin-right: 0 ; - margin-bottom: .5% ; - margin-top: 0; - font-weight: bold; - float: none ; - clear: both ; - text-indent: 0%; - text-align: center } - -img.imgcenter { margin-left: auto; - margin-bottom: 0; - margin-top: 1%; - margin-right: auto; } - -.pagenum { position: absolute; - left: 1%; - font-size: 95%; - text-align: left; - text-indent: 0; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; } - -</style> - -</head> - -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Latin America: Its Rise and Progress, by -F. Garcia Calderon - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Latin America: Its Rise and Progress - -Author: F. Garcia Calderon - -Contributor: Raymond Poincaré - -Translator: Bernard Miall - -Release Date: July 1, 2020 [EBook #62541] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LATIN AMERICA: ITS RISE AND PROGRESS *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - -</pre> - - -<h1> -<br /><br /> - <span style="color: red">LATIN AMERICA:</span><br /> -</h1> - -<p class="t2"> - ITS RISE AND PROGRESS<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> - BY<br /> -</p> - -<p class="t2"> - <span style="color: red">F. GARCIA CALDERON</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - WITH A PREFACE BY<br /> - <span style="color: red">RAYMOND POINCARÉ</span><br /> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> - <i>Of the French Academy, President of the French Republic</i><br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - TRANSLATED BY BERNARD MIALL<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - WITH A MAP AND 34 ILLUSTRATIONS<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - NEW YORK<br /> - <span style="color: red">CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS</span><br /> - 597-599 FIFTH AVENUE<br /> - 1915<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t4"> -[<i>All rights reserved</i>] -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -TO -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -MONSIEUR ÉMILE BOUTROUX -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -(<i>of the Institute of France</i>) -</p> - -<p> -Permit me to offer you this book as a mark of admiration -and gratitude. Often of an evening, in the sober -hour of twilight, hearing you comment upon a page of -Plato or a line of Goethe, or explain to me with -unfailing geniality and marvellous lucidity the troubles of -the present day, I have gained a fuller understanding of -the magnificent radiance of the French genius; and -always, on leaving you, I have found pleasure in -repeating the thought of Emerson, of the Emerson whom you -love, concerning the utility of great men: "They make -the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found -life glad and nutritious." -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -F. G. C. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -PARIS, <i>November</i>, 1911. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="preface"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P9"></a>9}</span></p> - -<h3> -PREFACE -</h3> - -<p> -Here is a book that should be read and digested -by every one interested in the future of the Latin -genius. It is written by a young Peruvian diplomatist. -It is full of life and of thought. History, -politics, economic and social science, literature, -philosophy—M. Calderon is familiar with all and -touches upon all with competence and without -pedantry. The entire evolution of the South -American republics is comprised in the volume -which he now submits to the European public. -</p> - -<p> -M. Calderon, a pupil in the school of the best -modern historians, seeks in the past the laws of the -future development of the Latin republics. By -means of a scholarly and painstaking analysis, he -shows us, in the South American Creole, a Spaniard -of the heroic age, slowly transformed by miscegenation -and the influence of climate; he sees in him, -modified by time and enfeebled by cross-breeding, -the most ancient characteristics of the Iberian race; -and he expounds, in a few pages, the heroic epoch -in which the individualism of Spain broke out into -the audacious adventure of the conquistadores and -the savage mysticism of the Inquisitors. -</p> - -<p> -Then comes the colonial phase, with its disappointments, -its illusions, its abuses and errors; the -domination of an oppressive theocracy, of crushing -monopolies; the insolence of privileged castes, and -the indignities of the Peninsular agents. A thirst -for independence gradually possesses the Spanish and -Portuguese colonies; they rebel not merely against -the economic and fiscal tyranny which is crushing -them, but also against the rigours of a political and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P10"></a>10}</span> -moral tutelage that leaves them no political liberty. -It is a great and terrible crisis. The movement of -liberation fulfils itself in three phases: firstly, the -colonies seek to obtain reforms of the metropolis, -still anxious to remain loyal; then they consider -the question of submitting themselves to European -monarchs; and, finally, the republican idea appears, -develops, and is victorious. -</p> - -<p> -A cycle of pioneers and a cycle of liberators: -M. Calderon expounds this tragic history with a sense -of gratitude. He examines with remarkable insight -the fundamental causes of the Revolution—the -excesses of Spanish absolutism; the influence of the -Encyclopædia and the doctrines of 1789; the -example of North America; the gold of England, -and the intervention of Canning; the various -converging forces whose fulminating combination -created a new world, ill prepared for social life, -fragmentary, and in travail. -</p> - -<p> -M. Calderon transports us into certain of the -portions of this newborn America. He makes this -the occasion of setting before us a whole gallery of -vigorously painted pictures. The field of vision is -occupied successively by Paraguay, with the long -dictatorship of its first <i>caudillo</i>, the gloomy, taciturn -Francia, with his authoritative traditions and warlike -instincts; Uruguay, with its intensely national life; -Ecuador, bearing the heavy imprint of Garcia -Moreno; Peru, with its tormented history, the -powerful but fortunate dictatorship of Don Ramon -Castilla and Manuel Pardo and the epidemic of -speculation, the insanity of the saltpetre and guano -booms, the abuse of loans, warfare and anarchy, and -the present effort towards economic recovery and -national stability; Bolivia, with the cold and crafty -ambition of Santa-Cruz; Venezuela, with the gross -and material audacity of Paez, and the empirical -despotism of Guzman-Blanco, that politician without -doctrines, avid of power, but a patriot and a paternal -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P11"></a>11}</span> -ruler. As M. Calderon says, the history of these -Republics is difficult to distinguish from that of their -<i>caudillos</i>, those representative men who personify, -at any given moment, the virtues and vices of their -peoples. -</p> - -<p> -After the magnificent epic of Simon Bolivar, which -M. Calderon recalls with the enthusiasm of gratitude, -there commenced a troublous era of military anarchy. -The ambition of the <i>caudillos</i> rent South America -and multiplied her states. But the soul of -germinating nationalities was steeped in the blood of -battles, and in the heart of each people a national -conscience was awakened. This was the troublous -epoch of wars and revolutions. -</p> - -<p> -The South American lived a life of danger, like -the Florentine of the Renaissance or the Frenchman -of the Terror; but presently, in the shadow of -military power, wealth was evolved and order -established; property became more secure, and -existence more tame and normal; it was the advent of -industry, commercialism, and peace. It seems to me -that M. Calderon rather regrets having been born -too late into a world already too old. What he terms -the twilight of the <i>caudillos</i> fills him with a -melancholy nostalgia for the bygone days. The -tyrants, who were as a rule supported by the negroes -and half-castes, helped to destroy racial differences -and oligarchies. They have thus founded democracies -which the liberal mind of M. Calderon cannot -regard without goodwill, but which, to his mind, are -too far lacking in the sense of solidarity; they are -clumsy, inorganic, incapable of associating human -effort; the rivalry of families and the hatred of -factions absorbs and disturbs them, as it did the -mediæval republics, and under the brilliant polish -of French ideals they mask a confused medley of -Europeans and Indians, Asiatics and Africans. -</p> - -<p> -In these turbulent republics, however, M. Calderon -is able clearly to perceive the reassuring symptoms -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P12"></a>12}</span> -of a powerful vitality, and he does not despair of -seeing them profit in the near future by the influence -of Latin discipline. From the scholastic erudition of -the colonial epoch, he attentively follows the -intellectual evolution of the South American populations, -through the troublous mists of political ideology, to -the hitherto pallid imitations of European philosophies. -Despite the diversity of races intermingling -in the southern continent, he is convinced that the -constant and secular action of the Roman law, a -common religion, and French ideals, has given these -young republics a Latin conscience, intangible and -sacred. And he expresses the hope, very wisely -and reasonably, that the peoples of South America -will continue in the path of self-improvement without -breaking with the traditions that are natural to them, -and without subjecting themselves to alien influences. -</p> - -<p> -He goes on to review the German peril, the North -American peril, and the Japanese peril. He does -not fail to realise the extent of the first named, -and he complains of the progress of the commercial -immigration of Germans, especially in the southern -provinces of Brazil; but he considers that the -German element, in the very process of fecundation, -will disappear amidst the mass of the nation. He -is, on the other hand, very keenly concerned with the -North American peril. Not that he fails to do -justice to the marvellous qualities of the Anglo-Saxon -race; not that he is indifferent to the prestige -of the great northern Republic, or that he is forgetful -of its services to the cause of American autonomy; -but he feels the increasing weight of a tutelage originally -beneficent, and anxiously demands, <i>Quis custodiet -custodem</i>? He is not oblivious of the fact that the -Monroe doctrine is changing, that it has insensibly -passed from the defensive to intervention, and from -intervention to conquest, and this metamorphosis gives -him food for reflection. Whatever the qualities of -Yankee civilisation, it is not Latin civilisation, and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P13"></a>13}</span> -M. Calderon would not have the latter sacrificed to the -former. He implores South America to defend -itself against the danger of a Saxon hegemony, to -enrich itself by means of European influences, to -encourage French and Italian immigration, and -to purify its races by an influx of new blood. -</p> - -<p> -In the Japanese, as in the German, M. Calderon -sees an indefatigable emissary of the Imperialist idea. -According to him, no antagonism is more irreducible -than that of America and Japan. Japanese artisans -are invading the shipyards and foundries of Chili, -Peru, and Brazil. They form a refractory element -which will never be assimilated. He foresees that -the supremacy of Japan may shortly extend over -the entire Pacific, and that the whole of America will -find it no trivial task to oppose this formidable power. -From beginning to end of this book we hear the -rallying-cry of the Latin republics. I believe that -at heart M. Calderon regrets the excessive division -of the states of South America. But the problem -of unity, often brought to the fore in congresses -and conferences, appears to him insoluble, and in -default of this he would be content with intellectual -alliances, with economic or fiscal unions, which would -still permit the various republics to draw nearer to -one another, to know one another better, and in time -and on occasion to associate their defensive efforts. -</p> - -<p> -I do not feel competent to criticise the advice -which M. Calderon offers his compatriots. -</p> - -<p> -In particular I cannot speak of his opinions -concerning the presidential system in the republics of -South America, and their constitutional methods, -which differ so sensibly from our French -parliamentary methods. -</p> - -<p> -I would only remark that M. Calderon is right -in warning the American states against a plague of -which we in France know something, but which in -young societies, deficient in established traditions, -and without ancient and well-tried organisations, may -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P14"></a>14}</span> -well be exceptionally dangerous—the invasion of -a parasitical bureaucracy, which would increasingly -develop itself at the expense of the healthy portions -of the nation, and which would gradually infect the -soundest and most vital tissues. -</p> - -<p> -Finally, without indiscretion, I may perhaps express -my approval of M. Calderon's stern requisition -against the policy of excessive loans. It is by -running into debt over unlicensed extravagances that -certain of the South American republics have gained -in Europe the reputation of being financially unsound -or dishonest, and have thereby, by mere force of -proximity, injured the repute of wiser and more -economical states. -</p> - -<p> -Since the republics of South America have need -of European money, they would be greatly at fault -did they alienate it by excessive or reckless budgets. -</p> - -<p> -Never, I believe, shall we see the dismal hour -which M. Calderon's imagination hears already -striking; when, expelled by Slavs and Teutons, the -Latins of the old world will be forced to take refuge -on the shores of the blue sea that bore their floating -cradle; and a Frenchman may be forgiven for -refusing to believe that the capital of classic culture -will ever pass from Paris to Buenos-Ayres, as it -has passed from Rome to Paris. But without -lingering over such alarming anticipations as these -we may delight our eyes with brighter and more -immediate prospects. May South America, while -remaining herself, while cultivating, as M. Calderon -advises her to cultivate, the American ideal, grow -ever more and more hospitable to the literature, the -arts, the commerce, and the capital of France. -Thereby the great Latin family can only gain in -material prosperity and moral authority. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> - RAYMOND POINCARÉ<br /> - (<i>of the French Academy</i>).<br /> -</p> - -<p> -(M. Poincaré wrote this Preface in December, 1911, before he -became President of Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs.) -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="foreword"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P15"></a>15}</span></p> - -<h3> -FOREWORD -</h3> - -<p> -There are two Americas. In the north, the "Outre-Mer" -of Bourget, is a powerful industrial republic, -a vast country of rude energies, of the "strenuous -life." In the south are twenty leisurely states of -unequal civilisation, troubled by anarchy and the -colour problem. The prestige of the United States, -their imperialism, and their wealth, have cast a shade -over the less orderly Latin republics of the south. -The title of America seems to be applied solely to -the great imperial democracy of the north. -</p> - -<p> -Yet among these American nations are wealthy -peoples whose domestic organisation has been -greatly improved, such as the Argentine, Brazil, -Chili, Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay. They must not -be confounded with the republics of Central America, -with Hayti or Paraguay. French writers and -politicians, such as M. Anatole France, M. Clemenceau, -and M. Jaurès, who have visited the Argentine, -Brazil, and Uruguay, have remarked there not only -an established Latin culture, but noble efforts in -the direction of augmenting the internal peace of -the nations, and extraordinary riches. They are -agreed in declaring that these young countries possess -economic forces and an optimism which will yield -them a brilliant future. -</p> - -<p> -Several of these states have lately celebrated their -first centenary. Their independence was won during -the first decade of the nineteenth century. The year -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P16"></a>16}</span> -1810 was the beginning of a new epoch, during which -autonomous republics were formed, not without -tragedy, upon the remnants of the Spanish power. -</p> - -<p> -The time has come, it would seem, to study these -peoples, together with their evolution and progress, -unless we are willing to take it as proved that the -United States of North America are the sole focus -of Transatlantic civilisation and energy. -</p> - -<p> -We propose to draw up the balance-sheet of these -South American republics. This is the object of -this book. We must seek in the history of these -states the reason of their inferiority and the data -which relate to their future. -</p> - -<p> -First of all we must study the conquering race -which discovered and colonised America. We must -analyse the Spanish and Portuguese genius, the -Iberian genius, half European, half African. After -the conquest new societies sprang up under the stern -domination of Spain and Portugal. They were -over-seas theocracies, jealously guarded from all alien -trade. Unlike Saxon America, where the Dutch and -English immigrants held themselves sternly apart -from the Indians, pursuing them and forcing them -westward, in South America conquerors and -conquered intermingled. The half-castes became the -masters by force of numbers, conceiving a thirst -for power and a hatred of the proud and overbearing -Spaniards and Portuguese. War broke out between -the Iberians and the Americans; it was a civil war. -Then new states were rapidly formed, without -traditions of government or established social -classification. -</p> - -<p> -These states were dominated by military chieftains, -by <i>caudillos</i>. From barbarism and periodic anarchy -proceeded the Dictators. We shall be able to study -some of the representative personalities of this period, -and to disentangle from the monotonous development -of events the history of certain nations, such as -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P17"></a>17}</span> -Brazil, in which the social medley has been dominated -by the principle of authority. In the Argentine, -Brazil, Mexico, Peru, and Chili we shall perceive a -new industrial order, by means of which political -life grows less disturbed and the <i>caudillos</i> lose their -authority (Books I. and II.). -</p> - -<p> -The study of intellectual evolution shows us how -great is the power of ideology in these rising -democracies. They imitate the French Revolution; they -submit themselves to the influence of the ideas of -Rousseau and the Romantics, and of the doctrines -of the individualists. America, Spanish and -Portuguese by origin, is becoming French by culture -(Book III.). -</p> - -<p> -Here we proceed to the study of the part played by -the Latin spirit in the formation of these peoples, -and the perils which threaten them, whether these -proceed from the United States, from Germany, or -from Japan, and to consider the faults and the -qualities of this spirit (Book IV.). Then follows an -analysis of the problems and the future of Latin -America (Book V.). -</p> - -<p> -The conclusion to be drawn from this examination -is that the political life of the Ibero-American -peoples is as yet chaotic, but that some of them have -already cast off the fetters of an unfortunate heredity. -Across the ocean liberty and democracy are steadily -becoming realities. In the battles of the future the -support of America will be valued by the great -peoples of the Mediterranean who are struggling for -the supremacy of the Latin race. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap00d"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P19"></a>19}</span></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -CONTENTS -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#preface">PREFACE</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#foreword">FOREWORD</a> -</p> - -<p class="t3b"> -<a href="#chap0101">BOOK I</a> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0101">CHAPTER I</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE CONQUERING RACE -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Its psychological characteristics—Individualism and its -aspects—The sentiment of equality—African fanaticism. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0102">CHAPTER II</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE COLONIES OVERSEA -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The conquerors—The conquered races—The influence of -religion in the new societies—Colonial life. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0103">CHAPTER III</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -I. Economic and political aspects of the -struggles—Monarchy and the Republic—The leaders: Miranda, -Belgrano, Francia, Iturbide, King Pedro I., Artigas, San -Martin, Bolivar—Bolivar the Liberator: his ideas and -his deeds. -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -II. Revolutionary ideology—Influence of Rousseau—The -rights of man—The example of the United States—English -ideas in the constitutional projects of Miranda -and Bolivar—European action: Canning—Nationalism -versus Americanism. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P20"></a>20}</span> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0104">CHAPTER IV</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -MILITARY ANARCHY AND THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Anarchy and dictatorship—The civil wars: their -significance—Characteristics of the industrial period. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -<a href="#chap0201">BOOK II</a> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0201">CHAPTER I</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -VENEZUELA: PAEZ—GUZMAN-BLANCO -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The moral authority of Paez—The Monagas—The tyranny -of Guzman-Blanco—Material progress. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0202">CHAPTER II</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -PERU: GENERAL CASTILLA—MANUEL PARDO—PIEROLA -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The political work of General Castilla—Domestic -peace—The deposits of guano and saltpetre—Manuel Pardo, -founder of the anti-military party—The last -<i>caudillo</i>—Pierola: his reforms. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0203">CHAPTER III</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -BOLIVIA: SANTA-CRUZ -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Santa-Cruz and the Confederation of Peru and Bolivia—The -tyrants Belzu, Molgarejo—The last <i>caudillos</i>: Pando, -Montes. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0204">CHAPTER IV</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -URUGUAY: LAVALLEJA—RIVERA—THE NEW <i>CAUDILLOS</i> -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The factions: Reds and Whites—The leaders: Artigas, -Lavalleja, Rivera—The modern period. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0205">CHAPTER V</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE ARGENTINE: RIVADAVIA—QUIROGA—ROSAS -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Anarchy in 1820—The <i>caudillos</i>: their part in the -formation of nationality—A Girondist, Rivadavia—The -despotism of Rosas—Its duration and its essential aspects. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P21"></a>21}</span> -</p> - -<p class="t3b"> -<a href="#chap0301">BOOK III</a> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0301">CHAPTER I</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -MEXICO: THE TWO EMPIRES—THE DICTATORS -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The Emperor Iturbide—The conflicts between Federals -and Unitarians—The Reformation—The foreign Emperor—The -dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz—Material progress -and servitude—The Yankee influence. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0302">CHAPTER II</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -CHILI: A REPUBLIC OF THE ANGLO-SAXON TYPE -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Portales and the oligarchy—The ten-years' Presidency—Montt -and his influence—Balmaceda the reformer. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0303">CHAPTER III</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -BRAZIL: THE EMPIRE—THE REPUBLIC -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The influence of the Imperial <i>régime</i>—A transatlantic -Marcus Aurelius—Dom Pedro II.—The Federal Republic. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0304">CHAPTER IV</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -PARAGUAY: PERPETUAL DICTATORSHIP -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Dr. Francia—The opinion of Carlyle—The two -Lopez—Tyranny and the military spirit in Paraguay. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -<a href="#chap0401">BOOK IV</a> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0401">CHAPTER I</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -COLOMBIA -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Conservatives and Radicals—General Mosquera: his -influence—A statesman: Raphael Nuñez, his doctrines -political. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P22"></a>22}</span> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0402">CHAPTER II</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -ECUADOR -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Religious conflicts—General Flores and his political -labours—Garcia Moreno—The Republic of the Sacred -Heart of Jesus. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0403">CHAPTER III</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE ANARCHY OF THE TROPICS—CENTRAL -AMERICA—HAYTI—SAN-DOMINGO -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Tyrannies and revolutions—The action of climate and -miscegenation—A republic of negroes: Hayti. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -<a href="#chap0501">BOOK V</a> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0501">CHAPTER I</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -POLITICAL IDEOLOGY -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Conservatives and -Liberals — Lastarria — Bilbao — Echeverria — Montalvo — Vigil — The -Revolution of 1848 and its -influence in America—English ideas: Bello, -Alberdi—The educationists. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0502">CHAPTER II</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE LITERATURE OF THE YOUNG DEMOCRACIES -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Spanish classicism and French romanticism—Their -influence in America—Modernism—The work of Ruben -Dario—The novel—The <i>conte</i> or short story. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0503">CHAPTER III</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE EVOLUTION OF PHILOSOPHY -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Bello—Hostos—The influence of England—Positivism—The -influence of Spencer and Fouillée—-The sociologists -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P23"></a>23}</span> -</p> - -<p class="t3b"> -<a href="#chap0601">BOOK VI</a> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0601">CHAPTER I</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -ARE THE IBERO-AMERICANS OF LATIN RACE? -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Spanish and Portuguese heredity—Latin culture—The -influence of the Roman laws, of Catholicism, and of -French thought—The Latin spirit in America: its -qualities and defects. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0602">CHAPTER II</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE GERMAN PERIL -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -German Imperialism and the Monroe doctrine—Das -Deutschtum and Southern Brazil—What the Brazilians -think about it. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0603">CHAPTER III</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE NORTH AMERICAN PERIL -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The policy of the United States—The Monroe doctrine: -its various aspects—Greatness and decadence of the -United States—The two Americas, Latin and Anglo-Saxon. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0604">CHAPTER IV</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -A POLITICAL EXPERIMENT: CUBA -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The work of Spain—The North-American reforms—The -future. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0605">CHAPTER V</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE JAPANESE PERIL -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The ambitions of the Mikado—The Shin Nippon in -Western America—Pacific invasion—Japanese and -Americans. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P24"></a>24}</span> -</p> - -<p class="t3b"> -<a href="#chap0701">BOOK VII</a> -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0701">CHAPTER I</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE PROBLEM OF UNITY -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The foundations of unity: religion, language, and -similarity of development—Neither Europe, nor Asia, nor -Africa presents this moral unity in the same degree as -Latin America—The future groupings of the peoples: -Central America, the Confederation of the Antilles, -Greater Colombia, the Confederation of the Pacific, and -the Confederation of La Plata—Political and economical -aspects of these unions—The last attempts at federation -in Central America—The Bolivian Congress—The A.B.C.—the -union of the Argentine, Brazil, and Chili. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0702">CHAPTER II</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE PROBLEM OF RACE -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The gravity of the problem—The three races, European, -Indian, and negro—Their characteristics—The mestizos -and mulattos—The conditions of miscegenation according -to M. Gustave Le Bon—Regression to the primitive -type. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0703">CHAPTER III</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE POLITICAL PROBLEM -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The <i>caudillos</i>: their action—Revolutions—Divorce -between written Constitutions and political life—The future -parties—The bureaucracy. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap0704">CHAPTER IV</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -Loans—Budgets—Paper money—The formation of -national capital. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> -<a href="#chap08">CONCLUSION</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -AMERICA AND THE FUTURE OF THE LATIN PEOPLES -</p> - -<p class="contents"> -The Panama Canal and the two Americas—The future -conflicts between Slavs, Germans, Anglo-Saxons, and -Latins—The role of Latin America. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#index">INDEX</a> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap00e"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P25"></a>25}</span></p> - -<h3> -ILLUSTRATIONS -</h3> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-029">HIDALGO</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-061">GABINO BARREDA</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-061">GENERAL JOSÉ ANTONIO PAEZ</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-066">GENERAL FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA (VENEZUELA)</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-068">SAN MARTIN</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-071">BOLIVAR IN 1810</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-080">BOLIVAR</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-087">GENERAL JUAN JOSÉ FLORES</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-089">ARTIGAS</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-104">GENERAL JOSÉ TADEO MONAGAS</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-114">GENERAL ANDRES SANTA CRUZ</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-118">MANUEL PARDO</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-120">DON NICOLAS DE PIEROLA</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-121">DON FRANCISCO GARCIA CALDERON</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-122">OPENING OF CONGRESS, LA PAZ, BOLIVIA</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-126">COLONEL ISMAEL MONTES</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-128">JUAN ANTONIO LAVALLEJA</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-138">RIVADAVIA</a> -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P26"></a>26}</span> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-142">ROSAS, THE ARGENTINE TYRANT</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-150">PASEO DE LA REFORMA, CITY OF MEXICO, ON INDEPENDENCE DAY</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-154">BENITO JUAREZ</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-156">JOSÉ IVES LIMANTOUR</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-162">GENERAL PORFIRIO DIAZ</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-164">THE CATHEDRAL, SANTIAGO, CHILE</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-172">JOSÉ MANUEL BALMACEDA</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-206">GENERAL MOSQUERA</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-258">CLÉMENTE PALMA</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-258">RICARDO PALMER</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-264">RUFINO BLANCO FOMBONA (VENEZUELA)</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-266">MANUEL UGARTE (ARGENTINA)</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-268">RICARDO ROJAS (ARGENTINA)</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-270">GOMEZ CARRILLO</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-274">JOSÉ ENRIQUE RODÓ (URUGUAY)</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<a href="#img-280">ALCIDES ARGUEDAS (BOLIVIA)</a> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -MAP -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -[Transcriber's note: The above map (of South America) was -omitted from this ebook, being too large (approximately 18"x24") -and fragile to scan.] -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0101"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P27"></a>27}</span></p> - -<h2> -BOOK I -</h2> - -<p class="t3b"> -<i>THE FORMATION OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLES</i> -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -When the Iberians arrived in America they found -either tribes or peoples of semi-civilised -inhabitants. These natives differed from the Spanish -and Portuguese invaders to such a degree that -their conquest was a true creation of new societies -on the ruins of ancient barbarian states. Before -analysing the various aspects of American history -we must therefore know something of the genius -of the conquering race. -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -Conquerors and vanquished intermingled; -territorial possession modified the spirit of the -conquerors; and the colonies began to dream of -conquering their independence. After twenty -years of warfare the republic became the political -type of these societies, which were exhausted by -Spanish tyranny. Two periods, one of military -anarchy, the other of domestic order, wealth, and -industrialism, succeeded in the new States. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P28"></a>28}</span> -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-029"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-029.jpg" alt="HIDALGO. A priest who prepared for the independence of Mexico from the Spanish power." /> -<br /> -HIDALGO. <br /> -A priest who prepared for the independence of Mexico from the Spanish power. <br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P29"></a>29}</span> -</p> - -<p class="t2"> -LATIN AMERICA -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I -<br /><br /> -THE CONQUERING RACE -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Its psychological characteristics—Individualism and its -aspects—The sentiment of equality.—African fanaticism. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Travellers and psychologists find in modern Greece -the craft of Ulysses, the rhetorical ability of the -Athenian sophists, and the anarchy of the brilliant -democracies once grouped about the blue Mediterranean. -Though its purity has been tainted by the -onset of Africa and the Turks, the old Hellenic spirit -survives in the race. A similar vitality is to be -observed in America. The transatlantic Creole is a -Spaniard of the heroic period, enervated by -miscegenation and climate. It is impossible to -understand or explain his character unless we take -into account the genius of Spain. The wars of -independence gave the Latin New World political -liberty, and a deceptive novelty of forms and -institutions, but beneath these the spirit of race survives: -the Republic reproduces the essential traits of the -colonial empire. In the cities, despite the invasion -of cosmopolitanism, the old life persists, silent and -monotonous, flowing past the ancient landmarks. The -same little anxieties trouble mankind, which no longer -has the haughty moral rigidity of the old hidalgos. -Belief, conversation, intolerance—all retain the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P30"></a>30}</span> -imprint of the narrow mould imposed upon them -by three centuries of the proudly exclusive spirit of -Spain. To study the political and religious history -of the last century in the American democracies is -to add a chapter to the history of Iberian evolution. -Beyond the ocean and the fabled columns which -were overthrown by the pikes of the conquistadors is -another Spain, tropical, and divided against itself, -in which the grace of Andalusia has vanquished the -austerity of Castile.[<a id="chap0101fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0101fn1">1</a>] -</p> - -<p> -If the troublous existence of the metropolitan state -could be reduced to the simplicity of a formula, that -formula would also explain the troublous history of -a score of American republics, just as the deep root -will reveal the germ of the vicious development of -a tropical tree. But nothing would be more impossible -than to reduce to an abstract and enforced unity -the disturbed evolution of Spain, full as it is of -anarchy and bloodshed. The Peninsula, divided into -hostile regions, the refuge of inimical races, presents -in its past such contradictions as defy synthesis. -Amid this theocratic people the development of -municipal liberties was premature. While feudality still -imposed its authority upon the rest of Europe, Spain -saw the rise of the free cities. Beside the eternal -Quixotism which renounces the vulgar kingdom of -the useful in order to give itself only to the ideal -the wise refrains of the people express a dense, -prosaic, positive realism. The Catholic nation <i>par -excellence</i> furnished the Duke of Alba with the troops -that were to conquer Rome. After long years of -absolute monarchy the old democratic spirit was -reborn in the Peninsular <i>juntas</i> which opposed the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P31"></a>31}</span> -French invasion. From Cantabria to Cadiz we -discover, beneath the unity of Castile, a splendid variety -of provincial types. The Asturian hardness contrasts -with the rhythm of Andalusia, the impetuosity -of Estremadura with the dryness of Catalonia, the -tenacity of the Basques with the proud idleness of -the Castilian. -</p> - -<p> -From this territorial complexity arises a turbulent -life: the secular struggle in favour of national unity, -the generous epic of the Catholic crusade against -Islam, and the gloomy pursuit of religious unity by -means of inquisitorial holocausts. European history -is transformed south of the Pyrenees. Feudality -is arrested; the crusade against the infidel lasts -eight centuries; religion and empire are established -in magnificence like that of the Oriental theocracies. -In the wealth of this national development persist -the racial characteristics which we wish to determine: -individualism, democracy, the local spirit so -inimical to great unities, and the African fanaticism -which is satisfied only with excessive sensations and -extreme solutions—in short, the heritage of a grave -and heroic race, in a state of perpetual moral tension, -proud in the face of God and king and fate. -</p> - -<p> -Individualism is the fundamental note of the -Spanish psychology. An Iberian characteristic, it -has all the force of an imperious atavism. It exalts -any form of action, of self-affirmation; it inspires -an unreasonable confidence in self and the powers -of self; it tends to develop human energy, to -preserve the national independence from external -pressure, to defend it against the rigour of the law, -the moral imperative, and the rigidity of duty; and -it creates in exalted spirits an ardent desire of -domination. -</p> - -<p> -Strabo observed among the primitive Iberians, who -were divided into hostile tribes, an immense pride, -inimical to union and discipline. In his life and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P32"></a>32}</span> -attitude the Spaniard reveals all the outward and -inward aspects of individualism. The austerity and -arrogance revealed by the very folds of the hidalgo's -mantle, by his majestic port, his sonorous speech, -and his lordly gesture, the personal valour which -turns history into an epic, the audacity, the love of -adventure, and the isolation, are forms of personal -exaltation. "The Spaniards, in their simplicity," -says the squire Marcos de Obregon, "persuade -themselves that they are the absolute masters of all." -</p> - -<p> -Individualism explains the analogies between -Iberian and English history: the civilisation of the -Peninsula recalls, in some of its characteristics, that -of the Anglo-Saxons. In both we find the premature -affirmation of liberty, an excessive pride, and a long -struggle against invasions. From this arises an -aggressive imperialism: commercial in the north, -religious in the south. In England the climate and -the territory gave individualism a utilitarian bent; -in Spain the conflict with Islam gave it a warlike -tendency. Idealism, the inward life, and imaginative -exaltation created the Puritans in England; in -Spain the mystics and the inquisitors. But in the -conquest of hostile circumstances the Saxon acquires -a sense of realism; while the Iberian, under a fiery -sun, becomes in Spain as in America a hunter of -chimeras. A symbol will express the resemblance -between the two histories: Ariel and Caliban, Don -Quixote and Sancho Panza represent the same eternal -dualism of idealism and realism. Caliban has given -England a vast empire; the knight-errant has -returned to his native La Mancha, exhausted by his -barren adventure. -</p> - -<p> -Spanish evolution, and the moral and religious -aspects of Peninsular life, are to be explained by -this perpetual exaltation of the individual. Stoicism -is the moral aspect of individualism. It preaches -virility (<i>esto vir.</i> says Seneca): it develops the human -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P33"></a>33}</span> -will as opposed to Destiny; it is a gospel of austerity -in the face of suffering, of silent heroism in the face -of death. Seneca is for Roman Spain the teacher of -energy; from his teaching proceeds that tenacious -faith in character which touches Peninsular history -with a grave virility. Christianity, which proclaims -human dignity, becomes the national religion south -of the Pyrenees. According to the Stoics, all men -are equal before Destiny; according to Christ, they -are equal before God; and of these two doctrines a -formidable pride is born. Finally, in mysticism, the -original expression of the religious genius of Spain, -there is nothing to recall the pantheism of the Orient, -nor the annihilation of man before the Absolute. -The Peninsular mystics exalt their individuality, draw -strength from the visit of their Friend, become divine -through ecstasy, and aspire with the ardour of -conquerors to the possession of God. To the German -Reformation, which preached predestination, the -theologians of Spain opposed free human choice, the -efficacy of action, and the dignity and merit of effort. -The Spanish religion was by no means satisfied with -speculation; it made for action and preached energy. -The struggles of Spain have a religious significance; -the heroes are mystics and the mystics "knights of -the Divine order." Ignatius Loyola and Saint Teresa -dream of heroic undertakings and read the romances -of chivalry. Mysticism inspires the warriors; faith -purifies the covetousness of the conquerors. -</p> - -<p> -Wilful and mystical, the Spanish temperament is -active, and expresses itself externally in conflict; -it manifests itself in comedy and tragedy. The -Peninsular genius is dramatic. Adventure, -movement, and the shock of passions are developed in -an ample theatre which expresses all the aspects of -aggravated individualism. The struggle is not only -for independence, but for fame, to preserve the -integrity of honour in the general eye. Jealous and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P34"></a>34}</span> -revengeful, this preoccupation in respect of honour, -which is profoundly Spanish, inspires innumerable -tragedies. Antagonisms, ruptures, theses, and -antitheses abound in Iberian history; the positivism -of Sancho Panza, the idealism of Don Quixote; -obstinacy and idleness; sloth and violence; -parasitism and adventure; gloom and solemnity such -as we find in the paintings of Zurbaran and Ribera, -together with the frivolity of harmonious dance and -festival and light-headed madness in the hot -sunlight; faith in the will and acceptation of destiny; -the ardour of mystics and conquerors and the -cynicism of rogues and beggars; heroic -disinterestedness and passionate covetousness: these are -the irreducible contradictions of the Spanish mind, -which explain the long conflict, the intensity of the -internal drama. On the stage we find the reflection -of these conflicts, these indurated wills; subtle -passions, grandiose pride, lofty character; tragedies with -a touch of farce and comedies with a mystic -background. The literature of Chivalry—the immense -crop of romances, the rude primitive poetry, the <i>Cid</i>, -the <i>Children of Lara</i>—is a commentary upon -individualism and action. The great literary types—the -hero, the adventurer, the mystic, the noble chieftain, -the knight, the lover—are exalted individualities. The -<i>picaro</i> himself belongs to this hardy family; he is -proud as any knight, and a goodly number of knights -are <i>picaresque</i>. Subtle and sceptical, the <i>picaro</i> -employs both cunning and heroism in the daily -struggle for life. Of "Gongorism," a school of -Spanish literature, Martinez-Ruiz has written that -it is the expression of movement in language, a -dynamic poetry for men of action. Dramas and -romances of energy, violent epics, with nothing of -the antique serenity: these form the true literature -of Spain. -</p> - -<p> -In art and philosophy and literature there are -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P35"></a>35}</span> -really no schools, but writers, philosophers, and -painters; such as El Greco, who left no imitators; -solitary individuals such as Gratian and Quevedo. -But in Spain we see the triumph of those military -and political organisations in which the individual -finds the greatest freedom: the people, the tribe, -the guerilla band, the battalion. The cult of -rebellious and exuberant energy is general. In the -relations of king and subject the same Peninsular -individualism appears. -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "For besar mano de rey<br /> - No me tengo por honrado,<br /> - Porque la besó mi padre<br /> - Me tengo por afrentado."<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -says a Spanish rhyme. Obedience to the king is -conditional; it is based upon the monarch's respect -for the supreme order of justice, and his submission -to a tacit or explicit contract between king and -people. Charters, traditions, and usages limit the -absolutism of the monarch. In the Cortes of Orcana -in 1469 it is declared that the king is the -"mercenary" of the people, who pay him a "salary."[<a id="chap0101fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0101fn2">2</a>] All -Spanish obedience is steeped in this kind of -pride; the nobles of Aragon feel themselves -individually the equals of the king, and collectively his -superior. The cities, federated into <i>hermandades</i> -or unions, treat with the monarch; they form a -State within the State; they oppose the Government -and force it to recognise their privileges. In -1226 the cities of Aragon and Catalonia demand of -Jaime II. the grant of a charter of popular rights. -Insurrections are frequent, and are incarnated in -a hero of the rude national epic: the <i>Cid</i>. Mariana, -a historian, authorises any violence directed against -royal tyranny. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P36"></a>36}</span> -</p> - -<p> -This individualism upholds a strict justice against -the narrowness of the laws and the Byzantine debates -of lawyers; against sentences, penalties, and tribunals. -Poems and proverbs express this continual clash -between the juridic ideal and the law; the Peninsular -conscience condemns the partial and precarious -justice of the codes. Joaquin Costa writes: "Of -all the epics known to me—whether national or racial—the -Spanish has done most to elevate the principle -of justice, and has rendered the cult of justice most -fervent." Austere and inviolable, the law represents -a category of eternal relations, beside which all -individualities are insignificant, even that of the king, and -all institutions fragile, even the Church. -</p> - -<p> -Stoical because it believed in pure justice; -nourished by rude heroisms, inward visions, -romances, and legends; exalted by mystic dialogues, -and hardened by centuries of religious wars; the -Spanish spirit, full of enthusiasm, entered upon the -Renaissance, that sixteenth century which was to -reveal the new continents across the ocean, the laws -of Nature behind her mystery, and to create -imperious personalities which opposed themselves to -Fate. Then Spanish individualism broke out into -mysticism, audacity, and adventure: it was the epoch -of <i>conquistadors</i>, of politicians, of inquisitors, of -Jimenez and Pizarro, Torquemada, Loyola, and -Cortez. Spain broke through the circle of the Old -World, fought in defence of Christian civilisation at -Lepanto, and of Catholicism in Germany and -Flanders; coveted the Mediterranean countries; -colonised an immense and unknown continent; -threatened Europe with the religious imperialism of -Charles V. and Philip II., and, thanks to the legions -of the Duke of Alba, imposed her will on the Pope. -Her policy had the old Roman majesty and force; -literature had found its "golden age"; philosophy -proposed the vast harmonious solutions of Fox -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P37"></a>37}</span> -Morcillo, and laid down the bases of natural and -national law by the pens of Francisco de Vitoria -and Domingo de Soto. It was a splendid prodigality -of energy, creation, conquest, and heroism—the last -stage of a history of violent stoicism, which -announced a long and majestic decadence. -</p> - -<p> -Distrustful of hierarchies, Spanish individualism -created social and democratic forms. Traditions, -doctrines, customs, and laws denoted an exact sense -of human equality. "Monachal democracy," said -Menendez-Pelayo, in speaking of Spain, because the -levelling of all classes offered certain conventual -characteristics, and because there was a Christian basis -to the fervour of the equalitarians; a "picaresque" -democracy, wrote Salillas, alluding to the equality -of the knight and the <i>picaro</i>, to the double -phenomenon of a proud people making pretensions to -nobility and a careless aristocracy continually -drifting into democracy by reason of the lack of middle -classes and the traditional idleness of the hidalgo. -An anarchical democracy, inimical to hierarchy, proud -and undisciplined, according to the analysis of -Unamuno, in his profound work, <i>En torno al -Casticismo</i>; a democratic Cæsarism, thought Oliveira -Martins, for the absolutism of the monarch was not -feudal royalty, but rather a principality of the Roman -type. The king presided over a democracy of -knights, mystics, adventurers, and rogues. This -spirit of equality may be observed even in the -formation of the Spanish aristocracy; the Gothic and -hereditary nobility is foreign to the evolution of the -Peninsular. The national aristocracy is to be found -in the bosom of the Church; it is elective, subject to -the current popular vicissitudes, to such a degree -that the ecclesiastical councils are more truly national -than the military councils and assemblies. Servitude -is less rude in mediæval Spain than in the rest of -Europe; the cultivator progresses, but disappears -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P38"></a>38}</span> -from the other side of the Pyrenees before the -invasion of feudalism, and the hired or leasehold -cultivator is almost free. There are tributary nobles: -between the democracy and the nobility there are -no irreducible divisions. -</p> - -<p> -This equalitarian development is especially notable -in the political world. In Spain feudalism is not a -national institution, and the spirit of Gothic -kingship becomes transformed under Iberian influences. -In Leon and Castile the nobility are less powerful -than in France or other parts of Spain, Catalonia, -Navarre, and Aragon.[<a id="chap0101fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0101fn3">3</a>] The social classes are not -superimposed in rigorous order; cities acquire -franchises, and "popular seigneuries" are formed. -</p> - -<p> -The monarchy, too, undergoes this process of -levelling or democratisation. The Emperor aims at -equilibrium in equality; he destroys the excessive -privileges of the aristocracy and the people; in -the political conflict he leans to one side or the other -alternately. The popular tongue consecrates the -equality of the social classes: "In a hundred years -a king becomes a thrall; in a hundred and six a -thrall becomes a king." "All are equal to the -king, except in wealth." -</p> - -<p> -The Spanish commune lasts, because it is the -centre of this great democracy. From the beginnings -of Peninsular history we see the cities struggling for -their independence. They reproduce the <i>djemaa</i> of -the Atlas, beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, amid the -Berbers, the parents of the Iberians; the <i>djemaa</i> -is the African progenitor of the Spanish commune; -both make an equal distribution of goods, and -endeavour to avoid poverty. The <i>djemaa</i>, or -municipality, or commune, isolated and autonomous, -constitutes the political unit: the State is a confederation -of free cities. The Spanish towns defend their -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P39"></a>39}</span> -liberties against every form of artificial unity, whether -Phoenician, Greek, or Roman. Rome reigns for seven -hundred years; but because she partially recognises -the autonomy of the municipalities, the Spanish -democracy; she increases civil rights, founds small -republics, which elect their own magistrates, -administer the communal finances, and discuss the -payment of imposts and the distribution of lands in -their ward. Thus Spanish individualism is -satisfied. Rome, absorbing and centralising under the -Cæsars, destroys local liberty; but a deep-seated -current re-establishes the autonomy of the peoples -when the Roman power decays. Assemblies of free -citizens govern the cities; the Visigoth monarchy, -at the suggestion of the national Church, respects -the municipal organisation. Thus a hybrid system -springs up, feudal in the Germanic character of the -predominant aristocracy, democratic by virtue of the -Councils, the Church, and the tenacious power of -the cities. In the struggle against the Moors the -kings compound with the proud, free cities, -conceding charters and municipal privileges in exchange -for a tribute of gold or flesh and blood. -</p> - -<p> -Liberty and democracy are of more ancient date -in Spain than in England. The charter of Leon, -dated 1020, anterior to the great English charter, -grants the municipalities an administrative and -judicial jurisdiction; it recognises the hereditary -rights of the serf in the soil which he tills, and his -full liberty to change his seigneur; herein we see -a modified feudalism. The first charters of Castile -recognised the rights of the cities. In the councils of -Burgos in 1169 and of Leon in 1188 the delegates -of the municipalities figured; even in the Cortes of -Aragon, where the Germanic tradition was predominant, -representatives of the cities were admitted as -early as the twelfth century. The overlord, who -extended his protectorate over a city, did not despoil -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P40"></a>40}</span> -it of its former sovereignty; the <i>Behetrias</i> were cities -or groups of cities which chose as their guardian a -baron or warrior chief, without losing anything of -their autonomy. The cities, proud of their privileges, -united with the royal power in struggling against -the nobility; thirty-four of them, in 1295, constituted -the <i>Hermandad</i> (brotherhood, guild) of Castile, -which eventually numbered as many as a hundred -cities. In ancient Spain we are always discovering -something of the nature of a contract, a concert -of free wills, a perpetual <i>concordat</i> between governors -and governed. From the Iberian tribe to the Roman -city, from the city with its franchises to the villages -grouped in <i>hermandades</i>, and from these to the -popular <i>juntas</i> which defend Spain against the power -of France and organise an epic resistance, there is -an obvious historical continuity. Local patriotism -is inimical to ambitious constructive policies. Many -peoples invade the Peninsula—Semites, Berbers, -Arabs, Copts, Touaregs, Syrians, Kelts, Greeks, -Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Franks, -Suabians, Vandals, Goths: they become superimposed -like geological strata, draw apart from one -another in the mountainous parts of Spain, and -convert the quarrels of provinces and the rivalries of -cities into regional conflicts and racial antagonisms. -</p> - -<p> -In the clash of Spanish individualities, in the rude -assertion of municipal prerogatives, in the -democratic developments which are so hostile to any -hierarchy, an African or Semitic patriotism is -revealed, which converts history into a bloody tragedy. -In the arid Castilian plain, confined by its glaring -horizons, under its burning sun, we see the spectacle -of a proud people defending absolute principles with -aggressive faith. Religion is dry and fiery as the -desert. Señor de Unamuno, writing of Spain,[<a id="chap0101fn4text"></a><a href="#chap0101fn4">4</a>] calls -her "a nation fanatical rather than superstitious, to -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P41"></a>41}</span> -whom the Semitic monotheism is better adapted than -the Aryan polytheism." Jews and Moors are -expelled from the Peninsula in the name of simple and -rigid ideals, by an intolerance at once religious and -political. Thus the spiritual integrity of Spain is -achieved; but industry decays, poverty increases, -decadence appears, and in a Spain drained of its -blood by <i>autodafés</i> and emigrations a solitary cross -is raised, the symbol of an African Christianity, to -which the love of mankind is a stranger. -</p> - -<p> -Spain is African, even from the prehistoric ages. -The Iberian is like the men of the Atlas; like -them, he is brown and dolicocephalous. The Kabyle -<i>douar</i> and the Spanish village present remarkable -analogies. An early geological change separates, -by a narrow strait, two similar countries; two -successive invasions spread an infusion of African blood -throughout the Peninsula. Phoenicians and -Carthaginians found colonies in maritime Spain; in 711 -seven thousand Berbers establish themselves in the -south; and the invasion of the Almohades in 1145 -still further unites Iberians and Africans. During -the long centuries of conflict between Christians and -Arabs the two races intermingle under the cultivated -tolerance of the Khalifs. The Gothic kings seek -the aid of Arab chieftains in their quarrels; the -Cid is a condottiere who fights alternately in the -Mussulman and Christian armies, serving, with his -troop of heroes, under the highest bidder. The -Spanish monarchs in turn intervene in the quarrels -of the Khalifs, and Alfonso VI., in 1185, allies -himself with the Moorish king of Seville in order to -conquer Toledo. The Arabs study under the masters -of the Spanish capitals, while the Spaniards study -Arabic, and are initiated into Oriental science. The -language still preserves traces of the commerce -between the two races. The Arabs, sceptical and -refined, overlords already enervated by the grace -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P42"></a>42}</span> -and luxury of Andalusia, rule without fanaticism; -they leave the vanquished their religion and their -usages, their laws, authorities, and judges; they -free such Christian slaves as are converted to Islam. -The Mozarabs, Christians who live in the Mussulman -States, without renouncing their faith and customs, -pave the way for the fusion of the hostile races. -In spite of a continual warfare, under the indifferent -and alien rule of the Arab both victors and -vanquished become subject, as did the first Gothic kings, -to the national influence. It seems as though the -gradual action of a common life were about to -reconstitute the primitive type of man who once -peopled Iberia from the Pyrenees to the Atlas. -</p> - -<p> -The originality of Spain, contrasting, in her -development, with the Indo-European nations, comes -from Africa, from the atavism of the Iberians, from -the long domination of the Moors, and from the -Semitic Orient. -</p> - -<p> -The anarchy of the tribe persists; the clergy are -all-powerful, as are the African marabouts. To the -feudal nobility and the European parliament the -Peninsula opposes the Councils; to the struggles -between Pope and Emperor, the Oriental fusion of -religion and the monarchy, the Inquisition, and the -omnipotence of the clergy; to the Reformation, the -coalition of Catholics with Protestants, and the league -of the princes of Christendom with the Sultan, a -fanatical Christianity which realises the ideal of -national unity by expelling Jews and Moors, and -burning sorcerers and heretics in the crackling flames -of <i>autodafés</i>. When Spain enters upon her decadence -her ancient characteristics—individualism, the -municipal spirit, and the democratic fervour—disappear, -and the African and Semitic influences -predominate. Under the theocracy the nation of -conquerors degenerates; at Villalar the monarchy -conquers the free cities and the arrogant nobility. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P43"></a>43}</span> -The clergy reign in school and palace; as in the -East, they form a superior caste. Rogues and -ruffians—the <i>picaros</i>—succeed to the heroes and -adventurers of the days of old; an Oriental parasitism -invades the Peninsula, and legions of arrogant -beggars people the highways of Castile. It is the -final crisis of heroic Quixotism. The Moors are -revenged for their defeat, imposing their African -fanaticism on an impoverished Peninsula. New -Spains across the ocean rise against the decadent -mother-country. Exhausted with creating new -nations, the conquering race sinks into repose, and -a score of democracies prepare to enjoy its moral -heritage. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0101fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0101fn1text">1</a>] Of the Portuguese conquerors we may say that in their -individualism and their love of adventure they resembled the -Spaniards. Their fanaticism was certainly less bitter, perhaps -because they had not been forced to struggle against the enemies -of their faith. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0101fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0101fn2text">2</a>] See Joaquín Costa, <i>Concepto del Derecho en la Poesia española</i> -(<i>Estudios jurídicos y politicos</i>, Madrid 1884) -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0101fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0101fn3text">3</a>] Altamira, <i>Historia de España y de la Civilizatión española</i>, -vol. i. p. 229 <i>et seq</i>. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0101fn4"></a> -[<a href="#chap0101fn4text">4</a>] <i>En torno al Casticismo</i>, Madrid, 1902, p. 115. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0102"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P44"></a>44}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II -<br /><br /> -THE COLONIES OVERSEA -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The conquerors—The conquered races—The influence of religion -in the new societies—Colonial life. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -In the sixteenth century the Spanish race conquered -the various kingdoms of America. It founded new -societies, destroyed ancient empires, and created cities -in the wilderness; and in the following century it -made innumerable laws and sent forth innumerable -warlike expeditions. Between one period and the -next—the rude epic of conquest and the tame existence -of the civilised colonies—a strange contrast is -to be observed. -</p> - -<p> -In the first period cupidity may be said to be the -<i>deus ex machina</i> of the great epic acted by the -conquerors: there is a bloody and barbarous conflict -with the unknown territory, the hostile Indians, the -mysterious forests, the enormous rivers, and the desert -that swallows whole legions. This marvellous age -is followed, in the silent cities, by a monotonous, -pious, puerile existence. Exhausted by heroism, the -race declines, mingles itself with the Indians, imports -black slaves from Africa, and obeys its Inquisitors -and viceroys. The obscure events of its lamentable -existence take place in a veritable wilderness. Grey -and unrelieved is this period, the period known as -"the Colony," for the unstable societies of America -reflect the life of Spain; while the first, that of -the Conquest, is an age of greed and bloodshed, in -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P45"></a>45}</span> -which the impetuous adventurers of the Peninsula -roam from Mexico to Patagonia, realising, in the -words of de Heredia's sonnet, their "brutal and -heroic dream." -</p> - -<p> -The Spaniard and the Portuguese of the sixteenth -century were men of the Renaissance; of that age -which was perturbed by the restored spectacle of -the life of the world. Voyages, discoveries, Greek -myths and classic poems, which filled the past with -legends and heroic deeds, gave the Latins of the -Mediterranean the longing to explore lands and seas -unknown. Individuality developed with an energy -that often merged in crime. Tyrants or conquerors -longing for power and adventure lived in regions -far removed from ideals of good and evil. Mystics—for -the mediæval gloom still hung over Europe—they -joined cupidity to faith, and renounced a life of -contemplation in order to push back the limits of -the world. Heirs of the Phoenician ambition, the -Portuguese encircled Africa before discovering -America; and many a Spanish captain, before -invading the regions oversea, had fought in Flanders, -pillaged Rome, and repeated the journey of Don -Quixote across La Mancha. -</p> - -<p> -The soul of the <i>conquistador</i> combined audacity -with covetousness, superstition with cruelty, the pride -of the hidalgo with the rigour of the ascetics, a -rigid individualism and a thirst for glory with an -infallible faith in the greatness of its own destiny. -The adventurers of the Peninsula were professors of -energy: like the Italian condottieri, like the captains -of the Napoleonic epic. A group of adventurers -enslaved the empire of Mexico, destroyed the power -of the Incas, and defeated the indomitable Araucan. -Cortez burned his ships when his companions spoke -of renouncing the difficult enterprise of conquest. -Pizarro, with twelve of his lieutenants, resolved, in -a desert island, to invade Peru. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P46"></a>46}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Cortez conquered Mexico; Pizarro and Almagro, -Peru; Valdivia and Almagro, Araucania; Jimenez -de Quesada and Benalcazar, the territories of -Colombia; Pedro de Alvarado, Guatemala; -Martinez de Irala, Paraguay; Juan de Garay, the -province of La Plata; Martin Affonso, the Souzas -and others, Brazil. Others brought from Italy the -spirit of the Renaissance; such was Pedro de -Mendoza, enriched by the sack of Rome, who, in -1554, organised an expedition to the Rio de la Plata. -The sixteenth century, the age of discoveries, was -also the age of conquest. From all the provinces -of Spain and Portugal adventurers poured into -America. The energetic Basques led the way; but -there were fiery Estremadurans, austere Castilians, -meditative Portuguese, and witty Andalusians. -Triumph lay before them; they advanced to conquest -over the ruins of cities and the bodies of Indians. -Their incredible prowess often ended in their death -upon the soil they trod as intruders and invaders. -</p> - -<p> -The America conquered by the Spaniards and -Portuguese was peopled by various races and -occupied by many different civilisations. The -invaders unified all these regions, imposing uniform -laws, customs, and religion. In Brazil they found -scattered tribes: Tupis, Tupinambas, Caribs; in -Paraguay, the Guaranis; in Uruguay, the Charruas. -The organisation of these peoples of hunters and -fishers was simple; in time of war as in peace they -obeyed their chiefs. These vast territories presented -many different tongues, and an infinite variety of -tribes, clans, and societies; ranging from cannibalism -and savagery, through the primitive forms of culture, -to nomadism and the sedentary state. The -Araucanians of Chili, a warlike people, held -assemblies to decide upon war, joined in confederations, -and obeyed a <i>cacique</i>, who was the strongest and -bravest man of the tribe. They lived in isolation -the better to preserve their independence. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P47"></a>47}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Three barbaric monarchies—the Chibchas or -Muiscas in Colombia, the Incas in Peru, and the -Aztecs in Mexico—which boasted of laws, majestic -cities, social classes, colleges of priests, reigning -dynasties, organised armies, academic myths, and -even hieroglyphs and astrologers (not unlike those -of Assyria)—differed profoundly in their complex -political organisation from the tribes of America. -Although the Incas were not the liberal princes of -Marmontel's dream, and although the history of their -rule was not an idyll, their meticulous and beneficent -tyranny did after long wars of conquest erect in the -ancient Tahuantisuyu a great empire of silent obedience, -an anticipation of the ideals of State Socialism. -Property was collective, and existence subject to strict -regulations. The Incas made labour obligatory, -supervised all agricultural operations, and respected, -when they extended their domains, the rites and -customs of vanquished races. -</p> - -<p> -If the Inca monarchy recalls the great empires of -Asia, China, and Assyria, Mexico, on the other hand, -appears to have been a feudal kingdom in which -<i>caciques</i>, governors of vast provinces, ruled beside -the absolute monarch. "There is no general -overlord," observed Cortez. There was a central -authority, as in Peru, but the Mexican despotism was -more rude and barbarous than that of the Incas; -the blood of human victims dripped from its smoking -altars. The social organism had not reached the -degree of perfection attained by the Inca monarchy. -</p> - -<p> -The Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, with their -mediæval ideas, their African fanaticism, their -marvellous ships, and their powerful weapons, -terrified these peoples who were still dwelling in the -age of bronze and polished stone. Historians report -the surprise of these hungry adventurers before the -treasures of Mexico and Peru. Atahualpa offered -to fill with gold the chamber in which Pizarro held -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P48"></a>48}</span> -him prisoner. The court of Montezuma displayed an -Asiatic luxury: surrounded with women, buffoons, -idols, and strange birds, under a resplendent canopy -loaded with gold and jewels, the Aztec monarch -advances like a king in an Oriental tale. His escort -is of haughty princes. The imperial city abounds in -temples, lakes, and causeways; it is melancholy and -sumptuous, the capital of Mexico. The chroniclers -of the time tell us how the cupidity of the -<i>conquistadors</i> was awakened: men who had left a ruined -Spain to find these immense treasures in America; -they are writing for impoverished hidalgos, and fear -that they will not be believed when they speak of -this fabulous abundance of gold. Since the days of -Ophir and the Queen of Sheba, says one of these -historians, "no ancient writing had ever stated that -gold, silver, and jewels" had ever been discovered -in such vast quantities as those which Castile was -about to receive from her new colonies. -</p> - -<p> -The soldiers of the conquest pillaged these -treasures, sacked temples and palaces, and quarrelled -over their wealth in a series of tragic struggles. -Around the mines cities sprang up and parties were -formed; at Potosi Vicuñas and Biscayans, excited -by the sight of the metal which delighted their -cupidity, prolonged the savagery of the first -conflict. Where minerals existed the colonial life was -unstable, harsh, and brutal; in poor countries, such -as Chili and the Argentine, societies were slowly -formed which cultivated the soil: tenacious -oligarchies bound to the new country by solid interests. -</p> - -<p> -The vanquished races and the victors differed -greatly from one another; hence amidst the political -and moral unity of the new societies arose different -characteristics and incipient antagonisms. Spaniards -and Portuguese took Indian wives or women; the -leaders married princesses of Mexico and Peru; the -soldiers founded provisional homes in the colonies. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P49"></a>49}</span> -The Andalusians settled in the tropics; the Basques -in the temperate regions; and the Castilians swarmed -in the towns. A curious affinity of race, as between -the Basques and the Araucanians, and analogies of -climate and landscape, and, apart from these factors, -the erratic wanderings of the conquerors, explain -this original diversity of the American provinces. -Why should they be similar: the offspring of the -gentle Indian Quechuas and the fiery Andalusians; -the children of the virile Araucanians and the calm, -reasonable Basques? Wherever the native population -was more abundant, and the political organisation -more complicated, as in Mexico and Peru, its influence -on miscegenation was more potent than in colonies -from which the Indian was disappearing (as the -Charruas of Uruguay or the nomadic tribes of Brazil) -before the onset of civilisation. The climate, severe -on the plateaux, and favourable to an energetic -existence, warm and enervating on the coast, contributed -to the variety of human types. The first families -sprung of the sensuality of the conquerors already -revealed the elements of future developments. -</p> - -<p> -It was an age of creation: races and cities, new -rites and customs; all were sprung of the crossing -of Iberian and Indian. The diversity of the elements -whose fusion was paving the way for a new caste -gave mankind an interesting variety. The negro, -imported by the Spaniard for the cultivation of the -tropical soil, added yet another complication to the -first admixture of castes. Grotesque generations with -every shade of complexion and every conformation -of skull were born in America from the unions -stimulated by the kings of Spain. In the Anglo-Saxon -provinces of North America the climate only changed -the invaders; in the Iberian colonies the conquered -race, the land itself, the air they breathed, all modified -the conquerors. Creation, the synthesis of human -elements, action and reaction between the country and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P50"></a>50}</span> -the men who ruled it, a crucible continually agitated -by unheard-of fusions of races; all this gave the -process of evolution the intensity and the aspect of -a continual conflict. From the negro <i>bozal</i> recently -imported from Africa to the <i>quinteron</i>, the offspring -of slaves purified by successive unions with the -whites; from the Indian who mourned his -monotonous servitude in the solitude of the mountains, -to the coloured student of the universities, we -find, in the seventeenth century as in the twentieth, -in the colonies as in the republics, every variety of -this admixture of Iberians, Indians, and Africans. -From a social point of view the rank of the individual -corresponded generally with the shade of his -epidermis. "In America," wrote Humboldt at the -beginning of the nineteenth century, "the more or -less white skin determines the position which a man -holds in society." -</p> - -<p> -The Spaniard degenerated in the colonies. The -passage from a period of violence to one of conventual -quietude betrayed this slow decadence of the invader, -under the pressure of the climate and in contact with -the conquered races. The Creole, the Spaniard born -in America, has lost the prickly characteristics of the -hidalgo: the proud individualism, the love of bloody -adventure, the stoicism, the tenacity in resistance and -conflict, and the rigidity of faith. -</p> - -<p> -In flexibility, brilliance, and grace he has surpassed -the rude Iberian; but his effort is transitory, his will -weak; his hatred is as ephemeral as his love. The -new race produces neither mystics nor men of action, -but poets, orators, admirable intriguers, superficial -scholars, brilliant commentators of exotic ideas; from -the seventeenth century onwards they succeed to the -first generation of audacious colonists, heroic monks, -and warlike captains. -</p> - -<p> -To extend the domains of the monarch, to "cause -the Indians to live in the knowledge of our Catholic -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P51"></a>51}</span> -faith," they conquered America, and they brought -to the New World a religion, a political <i>régime</i>, -universities, an economic system—all the elements, in -short, of a traditional civilisation. Absolutism in -government, monopoly in matters of commerce and -finance, intolerance in questions of dogma and -morality, tutelage and rigorous isolation; these -were the foundations of Spanish colonisation. The -methods practised by the Dutch and the English in -their colonies were not essentially different. -Toqueville and Boutmy have studied the effects, in the -United States, of Calvinistic intolerance and -commercial monopoly. They have remarked upon the -slavery of negroes in the agricultural districts of -Virginia, and the cupidity of the emigrants who -pursued the Indians with a truly Puritan ardour. -</p> - -<p> -The viceroy, the representative of the monarch, -exercised full powers of government in the colonies. -He presided over the <i>Real Audiencia</i>, the king's -tribunal, was superintendent of finances, protector -of the Church, and chief of the army. To him all -power was subordinate, whether ecclesiastical, -military, or civil. A luxurious court surrounded him, -the flattery of courtiers intoxicated him, and -subornation had its way with him. Sometimes the -viceroys represented the real aspirations of the -colonists, and were serious legislators, such as -Francisco de Toledo, in Peru; or they defended the -colonists from the expeditions of filibusters with -such energy that their fiercely contested battles -evoked the sentiment of nationality. At other times -they enriched themselves by the sale of posts, and -drained the treasury, or passed in progress through -the cities of their state, haughty overlords surrounded -with luxury and gold. -</p> - -<p> -To her political despotism corresponds the -commercial monopoly which Spain established in her -dominions. Humboldt defined the ancient ideal of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P52"></a>52}</span> -the colonising races in his "Essay on the Government -of New Spain": "For centuries a colony was -regarded as useful to the metropolis only inasmuch -as it furnished a great number of raw materials -and consumed plenty of goods and merchandise, -which were borne by the vessels of the -mother-country."[<a id="chap0102fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0102fn1">1</a>] England, Holland, Spain, and Portugal -acted upon the same exclusivist principles; the -ordinances of Cromwell were as inflexible on this point -as the schedules of Philip II. Commercial liberty -and industrial competition were condemned on the -same grounds as rebellion and heresy. -</p> - -<p> -Politics and economics were subordinated to -religion; the third combined the absolutism of the -first and the monopoly of the second. The conquest -of America was apostolic. The Spanish captains -fought to convert the overseas infidels. The -imperialism of Charles V. and Philip II. had a -religious character. To preserve the colonies from -heresy it closed the ports, prohibited all traffic with -foreigners, and imposed a conventual seclusion upon -a whole world. The Church was the centre of -colonial life. She governed in the spiritual order; -imposed punishments, flagellations, exile, and -excommunication, and delivered unbelievers and sorcerers -to the purifying care of the Inquisition. In the -department of morals she kept a watchful eye upon -the people; she defended the Indians, and often -opposed the governors. Viceroy and <i>cacique</i> feared -her equally. A formidable moral power, she helped -to discipline the unruly Creoles, to unite classes and -races, and to form nations. The cities were adorned -by her chapels and convents, and to these convents, -in pious mood, the hidalgos often left all their -possessions. -</p> - -<p> -Thus property became a monopoly of the convents. -Hence a plethora of monks and nuns, and the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P53"></a>53}</span> -accumulation, in Mexico and at Lima, of enormous wealth. -In Peru the annual income of the archbishop -amounted to £8,000, and that of some bishops to -£4,000. What with bishops and viceroys there was -no lack of luxury. A pompous and sensual -Catholicism satisfied the imagination of the Creoles, -the superstitious fears of the Indians, and the cheerful -materialism of the negroes. The Aztec, the <i>quechua</i>, -accepted from the monks a strange, Byzantine dogma, -mingled with aristocratic ideals and Oriental -mysteries. The native soon confounded the two -mythologies. In Mexico, so Humboldt reported, -"the Holy Ghost is the sacred eagle of the -Aztecs." Novel and sumptuous rites were added to the -traditional religion. Processions and festivals, a kind -of continual religious fair, united all races. The -people loved the cult of religion, with its external -manifestations, its virgins loaded with heavy <i>ex-votos</i>, -its sorrowing Christs, its gorgeously-decked saints, -and the glitter of gold and silk. -</p> - -<p> -As confessor the priest influenced the family and -directed the education of children; as preacher he -condemned immorality and judged the governors. -As in Byzantium, as in the Florence of Savonarola, -the colonial monk, speaking in the name of the -exploited populace, was an austere professor of virtue. -The Creole admired his ecclesiastical learning, and -his invincible attitude before the powers of this -world; in him the Indian found a protector. -</p> - -<p> -The American colonies differed in social composition. -The negro abounded in Peru and Cuba, but -soon disappeared in Chili and the Argentine. The -poverty of Araucania contrasted with the opulence -of Caracas, Lima, and Mexico. In the Aztec capital -some territorial seigneurs drew forty thousand a year -sterling in revenues. Frezier valued the jewels of a -rich lady of Lima at 240,000 livres of silver. The -melancholy Sierra, peopled by Indians, contrasted -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P54"></a>54}</span> -with the life of the coast, where luxurious cities -attracted the traveller. In the cities of the interior, -Cordoba or Charcas, we find settled traditions, -tenacity, and sobriety, but in the capitals of the coast -all is luxury, instability, and licence. -</p> - -<p> -Spain tended to destroy this variety by uniform -laws.[<a id="chap0102fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0102fn2">2</a>] Originality was as odious to her as heresy. -Customs and beliefs, hierarchies and privileges, all -must be uniform. Under such a <i>régime</i> the life of -the colonies was dull and monotonous. The cities -slumbered, lulled by the murmur of prayers and -fountains. Idleness was the natural condition of the -Creole; lengthy meals and daily siestas limited his -inconsiderable activities. The empty streets and -squares knew hours of silence; rejoicings were -ordered, and the orders pasted on the hoardings; -gaiety itself was imposed. It seemed as though -time itself must stand still in these cities of parallel -streets; that the ideal of all men must be absolute -quietude. -</p> - -<p> -The hidalgo of noble origin, the owner of vast -domains, governed his sons and his slaves with the -severity of a Roman patrician. He could be neither -merchant nor manufacturer; commerce and industry -were "low callings." He was attracted rather by -the bar, the subtleties of the "doctors," the -scholarship and poetry of the courts. Whether at the -university or the <i>cabildo</i> (municipality), his life would -be the same. He would sing the glory of viceroys -in Gongoric rhymes, or commentate upon Duns -Scotus, or meticulously construct acrostics or -syllogisms. In the café, at social gatherings, in the -literary salons, he would whisper criticisms of the -governors and the bishops, or discuss the titles to -nobility of a marquis of recent creation, or the purity -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P55"></a>55}</span> -of blood of an enriched mulatto. A conventual -chapter, or the quarrel of a bishop and a viceroy, -or a bull-fight, would fill him with ecstasy. Attending -mass in the morning, and in the evening driving -through the stately streets in a luxurious <i>calèche</i>, the -proud caballero would bear himself majestically. At -night, in his gloomy house, he would find his wife -telling her beads, surrounded by docile slaves. -</p> - -<p> -Sensuality and mysticism were the pleasures of -the colonists. The convents themselves, despite their -high walls, were not able to shut out these violent -delights. Licentious monks, nuns with lovers, -sprightly abbés, figure in the chronicles of the period -as in the Italian <i>contes</i>. The cloister, with its rich -arabesques, the <i>patio</i> (courtyard) perfumed with -orange-blossom, the murmuring jet of the fountain: -these evoke the passion of Andalusia. A devout -society pays the insatiable convents a tribute of gold -and virgins; and love, fleeing the dead cities, takes -refuge in cells quick with ambition and unruly desires. -</p> - -<p> -The woman, guarded in the Oriental fashion, in -houses strong as fortresses, attracts society to her -salon by her Parisian grace; in a world of -ponderous scholars she is famous for her amenity and -subtlety. Her fidelity, for the hidalgo, is a question -of his honour. The husband revenges himself for -transgressions by terrible punishments, as in the -Calderonian drama, while the heroic lover brings his -exasperated desires to the Moorish balcony, where he -awaits his lady in torment. Away from home, a host -of illegitimate unions, of concubines, of clandestine -amours. -</p> - -<p> -Passion will be tragic and devotion voluptuous; -in place of mystics we shall find <i>illuminés</i>. The -devil is the essential personage of this religion of -minutiæ; thanks to him the dreary colonial life is -surrounded by mystery; his appearances and his -manoeuvres thrill the Creole's blood. Hobgoblins, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P56"></a>56}</span> -sorcerers, spells, thefts of the consecrated host, and -exorcisms occupy the Inquisition; tales of incubi -and succubi, of pacts with Satan, of ghosts that -expiate their old offences in long-abandoned houses; -absurd miracles of saints; processions mingling with -the dances of slaves; gaily decked temples and parasitic -rights which stifle the traditional faith, deprive -the Catholicism of Spain of its Semitic rigidity. -</p> - -<p> -All through life the pious colonist is surrounded -by marvels. He loves nature with an ingenuous -faith, and attributes to the saints and demons a -continual intervention in his placid existence. An -unexpected sound reveals the presence of a soul in -torment; a tremor of the earth, the divine wrath; -sickness is a proof of diabolic influence; health, -of the efficacy of an amulet. In the pharmacies -chimerical products may be purchased—condor's -grease, unicorn's horns, and the claws of the "great -beast." -</p> - -<p> -The monotonous hours are passed in devotions -and futilities, prayers and conventual disputes, long -ceremonies and useless entertainments. Sometimes -the even course of life is interrupted by a startling feat -of prowess, or a festival, all gold and servility; the -royal seals have arrived, a princess is born in Spain, -a treasure has been discovered, a port has been -sacked by audacious pirates, or sorcerers or -Portuguese Jews are to be burned in an imposing -<i>autodafé</i>. Then the provincial cities, slowly threaded -by sumptuous processions, are all astir, but the -dazzling vision is only ephemeral, and the grey -monotony returns, with its petty quarrels, its indolence, -its exaggerated rites. -</p> - -<p> -The royal seals arrive under a <i>pallium</i>, and a -luxuriously appointed horse advances, bearing the -treasure. The spectators kneel before the symbol -of monarchical majesty, and incense, as at the feet -of a Byzantine ikon, expresses the adoration of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P57"></a>57}</span> -believers. The viceroy also enters beneath a canopy, -passing in solemn procession through the servile -city, while the bells of a hundred churches -celebrate his advent, and a solemn cohort of <i>cabildantes</i> -in their robes, monks of all orders, and bedizened -doctors, praise with courtier-like devotion the glory -of the royal messenger. In the religious festivals -the majestic altars which the devout, in token of -penitence, carry upon their shoulders, bear virgins -clad in velvets and glittering with jewels, or saints -that bow to one another like courtly hidalgos, or -Christs that weep before the wondering crowd. -Around these gorgeous altars dance the slaves, and -the monks chant a melancholy anthem. Seized by -a sacred intoxication, men and women scourge their -bodies till they bleed. -</p> - -<p> -The cry of anguish mingles with the monotony -of the prayers, amidst the tremulous excitement of -the faithful. -</p> - -<p> -The <i>autodafés</i> were the supreme feast of blood. -The chronicles of the time praise the "marvellous" -spectacle. The funeral procession advanced towards -the pyre, surrounded by burlesque and fanatical -groups. Groaning monks hemmed in the sorcerers, -the blasphemers, the heretics; some bearing a yellow -and others a green veil, and lugubrious draperies -on which were miniature paintings descriptive of the -infernal torments; others wore dunces' caps, which -excited the cruelty of the people. As the victims -proceeded to the pyre a crowd thirsting for the sight -and sound of martyrdom, drunken with the heat of -the sun, acclaimed the holocaust beneath the -impassive tribune of the Inquisitors. Farce and -grotesque invention mingled with tragedy, Oriental -luxury with a mystic terror; and the great lady who -at night would be dancing the pavane in her salon -now devoutly sniffed the acrid stench of charred -flesh and blood. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0102fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0102fn1text">1</a>] Vol. iv. p. 285; Paris, 1811. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0102fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0102fn2text">2</a>] The Portuguese colonisation of Brazil was less rigid, and the -commercial isolation less rigorous; and religion was neither fanatical -nor so powerful as in the Spanish colonies. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0103"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P58"></a>58}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III -<br /><br /> -THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -I. Economic and political aspects of the struggles—Monarchy and -the Republic—The leaders: Miranda, Belgrano, Francia, -Iturbide, King Pedro I., Artigas, San Martin, Bolivar—Bolivar -the Liberator: his ideas and his deeds. -</p> - -<p class="intro"> -II. Revolutionary ideology—Influence of Rousseau—The Rights of -Man—The example of the United States—English ideas in the -constitutional projects of Miranda and Bolivar—European -action: Canning. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -I. Oppressed by theocracy and monopoly, by privileged -castes and Peninsular functionaries, the Spanish -and Portuguese colonies aspired towards independence. -The English provinces of the North separated -themselves from England for practical reasons; -in the struggles of the South we see a double -economic and political motive. In some -vice-royalties, such as that of La Plata, the struggle -was due chiefly to an opposition of interests; in -other provinces, as in Venezuela, ideas of political -reform were predominant. -</p> - -<p> -Writers have attempted to explain the unanimity -of the liberative movement by a "historical materialism" -analogous to that of Karl Marx and Labriola; -but the reality, richer and more complex, does not -submit itself to this logical simplicity. The -revolution was not merely an economic protest; it -nourished concrete social ambitions. An equalising -movement, it aimed at the destruction of privileges, -of the arbitrary Spanish hierarchy, and finally, when -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P59"></a>59}</span> -its levelling instinct was aroused and irritated, the -destruction of authority to the profit of anarchy. -The Creoles, deprived of all political function, -revolted; in matters of economics they condemned -excessive taxation and monopoly; in matters of -politics they attacked slavery, the Inquisition, and -moral tutelage. Charles III. had recognised, in -1783, in spite of the counsels of his minister Aranda, -the independence of the United States, which were -to serve his own colonies as precedent, and he -expelled the Jesuits from America, the defence of -the Indians against the oppression of Spanish -governors. The corruption of the courts, the sale -of offices, and the tyranny of the viceroys, all added -to the causes of discontent, disturbance, and poverty. -</p> - -<p> -The Creoles opposed nationality to patriotism, the -half-castes opposed democracy to the oligarchies. -These were two phases of a great revolution. The -first battle was over in 1830, and the conflict -between the privileged class and the democracy -commenced. It reached its culminating point about 1860, -with the enfranchisement of the slaves, but it -continued during the rest of the century and engendered -an interminable civil discord. -</p> - -<p> -The Spanish provinces, subjected to a political -absolutism, transformed themselves into republics, a -change of system that was not effected without a -moral crisis. Even while fighting their battles the -Creoles sought uneasily for a new mould into which -to pour their liberalism. In the face of increasing -disorder they had thoughts of a monarchy, of an -oligarchic republic, of a permanent presidency: of -various forms which might possess the necessary -stability. Three phases may be distinguished in the -movement of liberation: the colonial, the -monarchical, and the republican. -</p> - -<p> -During the first phase the colonists manifested -their loyalty to the Peninsular monarchy. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P60"></a>60}</span> -</p> - -<p> -The first colonial <i>juntas</i>, in 1809 and 1810, -desired the Spanish suzerainty to be preserved. They -invoked the feudal tie which bound them to the -monarch, the imprisoned Ferdinand VII. The -French were triumphant in the Peninsula, but they -swore fidelity to the absent king. Vassalage having -been destroyed by the foreign invasion, the colonies, -in accordance with the law of <i>las partidas</i>, acquired -the right of self-government; they were reserved -for the king. The <i>juntas</i> disguised their radical -ambitions under legal forms. Their effort towards -traditionalism was perhaps sincere on some occasions, -but the current of revolution, which was gathering -itself together in the womb of history, destroyed these -provisional vistas. Thus the <i>cabildo</i> of Buenos-Ayres -declared that "no obligations would be recognised -other than those due to his person" (the King's). -Spaniards and Americans joined in taking an oath -of fidelity to Ferdinand VII. The captain-general -of Venezuela, deprived of his functions in 1810, was -replaced by a "Supreme Junta," preserving the -rights of the sovereign, and the oath of fidelity to -the monarch was observed. In 1809 the Junta of -La Paz, which emancipated the Creoles, and the -revolt of Quito, recognised the same royal tutelage. -The Chilian regulations of 1811 enacted that the -executive power should govern in the name of the -king. In 1821 Iturbide proclaimed his submission to -the king upon founding the empire of Mexico. -</p> - -<p> -It was an ephemeral loyalty, given to a king who -had abdicated, who had suffered exile, and who, -after the liberal Cortes of Cadiz, re-established a -despotic government. These immense colonies did -not revolt merely in order to restore an incapable -prince to his throne. While newly-created generals -were winning battles political autonomy was -becoming a fact. The Creoles, who had directed the -revolutionary movement, concealed their bold ambitions -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P61"></a>61}</span> -from a populace that was passive, a slave -to routine, and largely royalist. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-061"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-061.jpg" alt="GABINO BARREDA. Great Mexican Educationalist GENERAL JOSÉ ANTONIO PAEZ. President of Venezuela (1831-1935 and 1838-1842)" /> -<br /> -GABINO BARREDA. <br /> -Great Mexican Educationalist -<br /><br /> -GENERAL JOSÉ ANTONIO PAEZ. <br /> -President of Venezuela (1831-1935 and 1838-1842) -</p> - -<p> -The American <i>élite</i> were monarchists. In liberating -a continent their generals and statesmen professed -to endow the new nations with the stability of -a monarchy. Iturbide was Emperor of Mexico. The -lieutenants of Bolivar offered the latter a crown; -Paez persistently held the imperial ambition before -him. Belgrano, in 1816, at the Congress of -Tucuman, stated that the best form of government -for the Argentine was "a tempered monarchy"; and -many deputies in that Assembly demanded the -restoration of the throne of the Incas and of its -traditional seat at Cuzco: in short, the creation of -an American dynasty. -</p> - -<p> -Bolivar wished to see Colombia and Spanish -America constitutional monarchies with foreign -princes. Ministers were to exercise a policy "of -vigilance or defence, of mediation or influence, of -protection or tutelage" on the part of the great -European states in respect of the Colombian nation. -Other partisans of the monarchy were Flores, Sucre, -Monteagudo, Garcia del Rio, Riva-Agüero, and the -Argentine director Posadas, who wished to establish -that form of government "on solid and permanent -foundations" in the provinces of La Plata; Dean -Funes, the Colombians Nariño, Mosquera, Briceno -Mendez, and others. The founders of South -American independence understood that only a strong -government could save the new nations from -demagogy, anarchy, warfare between military chiefs, -and untimely provincial ambitions. They wanted -autonomy without licence, monarchy without despotism, -and political solidity without Spanish suzerainty. -</p> - -<p> -Despite this conviction on the part of the -revolutionaries, South America saw the birth of the -Republic. Alberdi wrote that its origin was -involuntary, and that it was the result of European -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P62"></a>62}</span> -indifference and Yankee egoism; more than -involuntary, it was spontaneous. The demagogues and -the crowd accepted it as the negation of monarchy. -The latter symbolised the Gothic despotism, the old -humiliating domination, the persistence of castes and -municipal privilege. In the popular mind, naturally -of a simplifying tendency, monarchy was slavery; -anarchy and the republic were liberty; there was -no distinction between the King of Spain and other -princes, between the absolutism of Ferdinand VII. and -the constitutional monarchy of England. A -universal hatred condemned all kings. The republic -was not so much an organisation or a political system -as a negation, and indissolubly bound up with -it were the cardinal ideas of country, equality, and -liberty. -</p> - -<p> -Monarchy offered America stability and -independence; it would have prevented civil war and -avoided half a century of anarchy. It was the sole -American tradition. The battles of the Revolution -gave the hegemony to ambitious generals; against -these a central government, above the quarrels of -parties, would have defended liberal institutions. A -constitutional prince would have given these divided -nations unity and continuity, under the pressure of -which ambitions, parties, and classes would finally -have found their places. The social elevation of -half-castes and mulattos would have been less violent -under such a system. -</p> - -<p> -Finally, the American monarchy would have -entered into the group of Occidental nations, and -the Monroe doctrine would not have isolated her -politically from the Europe that sent her men, money, -and ideas. -</p> - -<p> -But would it have been possible to found respectable -and lasting dynasties in America? The fall -of two empires, Mexico and Brazil, tells us that -republicanism is obscurely implicated with the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P63"></a>63}</span> -destinies of the country. The new States had no -nobles to surround a prince, nor could they have -supported the luxury of a court. -</p> - -<p> -The equalitarian instinct condemned all hierarchies -in America, and there were no princes to become -creators of nationality as in modern Europe. The -viceroys and semi-feudal barons exercised an -ephemeral empire and were not Americans; the colonies -were used to frequent changes of authority. To these -reasons in favour of a republic we must add the -danger that foreign monarchies might have involved -the continent in the diplomatic complications of -Europe. Perhaps even the Holy Alliance would have -led the colonies back to Spain, as a prodigal child -is led back to its parents. -</p> - -<p> -Bolivar expounded the defects of a foreign -monarchy. To the imported king he would have -preferred the irremovable president and the English -senate, and if in the face of advancing anarchy he -glanced at the question of European princes he soon -understood that it could never prove a radical -solution of the problems of the New World. "There -is no power more difficult to maintain than that of -a new prince" he told the Bolivians. There were -in America "neither great nobles nor great prelates, -and without these two props no monarchy is -permanent." To the Liberator kings symbolised -tyranny; he connected independence with republicanism, -and believed that nature itself would oppose -the monarchical system in America. In 1829, in a -letter to Vergera, the Colombian Minister of Foreign -Affairs, he expressed his arguments against the -monarchy with great precision: "No foreign -prince," he wrote, "would accept as his patrimony -a principality which was anarchical and without -guarantees; the national debts and the poverty of the -country leave no means to entertain a prince and -a court, even miserably; the lower classes would -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P64"></a>64}</span> -take alarm, fearing the effects of aristocracy and -inequality; the generals and the ambitious of every -stamp could never support the idea of seeing -themselves deprived of the supreme command; the new -nobility indispensable to a monarchy would issue -from the mass of the people, with every species of -jealousy on the one hand and of pride on the other. -No one would patiently endure such a miserable -aristocracy, steeped in ignorance and poverty and -full of ridiculous pretensions." The creator of five -nations, Bolivar was profoundly conscious of the new -social body, a disturbed and disorganised mass. He -understood that the ambition of his lieutenants and -the equalitarian tendency of the mob would oppose -an American monarchy or a foreign principality. -Iturbide and Maximilian, two emperors dethroned -and shot, have justified his objections. -</p> - -<p> -England, who might have founded constitutional -monarchies in America, in spite of the Holy Alliance, -pursued a commercial rather than a political policy. -In 1829 Lord Aberdeen announced that his Government -would not permit the establishment of a French -or English prince, nor a prince of any other -European dynasty, in Colombia. He would accept only -a Spanish prince, or the monarchy of Bolivar -himself.[<a id="chap0103fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0103fn1">1</a>] The Conde de Aranda proposed to the King -of Spain that America should be divided into nations -governed by the Infantas, but his plan was not -followed up. Once the independence of America -was a fact, and the despotism of Ferdinand -VII. re-established, no Spanish prince could be acceptable -either to Argentina or Colombia. In the face of -European indifference the tentative efforts of the -monarchists spent themselves in America, and the -continent acquired its definitive individuality. In -opposition to the monarchies by divine right of the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P65"></a>65}</span> -Old World a liberal world came to birth; incoherent -and incipient nationalities adopted equalitarian -constitutions, which were, in the distant future, to flood -their deserted territories with immense moral and -material forces. -</p> - -<p> -From Mexico to Chili the same revolutionary -fervour engendered the partial movements of 1808 -to 1811. Conspirators similar to the Italian -<i>carbonari</i>, lodges in which men spoke of liberty in the -midst of ingenuous rites, and university students who -had read the Encyclopædists, were preparing the -great crusade. The year 1809 was the first of the -Revolution. On the 1st of January there was a -popular rising in Buenos-Ayres; on the 16th of -July a revolt at La Paz; on the 2nd of August a -meeting took place at Quito. In 1806 an English -expedition attacked Buenos-Ayres. At a venture, on -his way home from Africa, an officer who entertained -ambitions in the direction of new territory and new -sources of wealth—Sir Home Popham—invaded the -capital of the viceroyalty of La Plata. This city was -defended not by the legitimate Spanish authority, -but by a noble <i>caudillo</i>, who was soon to be a -popular viceroy: Santiago de Liniers, the hero of -the "Reconquest." In this struggle against the -imperialist invader the Argentine people found the -first revelation of nationality. First they freed -themselves from the English; then from the Spaniards. -On the 25th of May, 1810, the <i>cabildo abierto</i> (the -municipality and the people), who had united on the -22nd, demanded the dismissal of the viceroy, and -elected a governmental and revolutionary <i>junta</i>, -patriotic but undecided. As early as 1808, in Montevideo, -a <i>junta</i> formed in the heat of a violent popular -commotion had turned against the viceroy of Buenos-Ayres. -</p> - -<p> -Spain implacably condemned these precursors of -the Independence. She exiled or strangled the rebels, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P66"></a>66}</span> -Zela in Peru; Dr. Espejo in Ecuador; Gual y -España in Venezuela; two indomitable priests, -Hidalgo and Morelos, in Mexico; Father Camilo -Henriquez and Dr. Martinez de Rosas in Chili; -Tiradentes in Brazil; Nariño in Colombia; all, -between 1780 and 1810, struggled against the -governors and viceroys, and in their liberal -enthusiasm were precursors of the audacious wars of the -future. The most notable of these was a Byronic -individual, the Venezuelan Francisco de Miranda. -He was born in Caracas in 1756. He had a brilliant -career in Europe, knew ministers and monarchs, was -the favourite of Catherine of Russia, fought beside -Dumouriez in the armies of the French Revolution, -went to the United States with the legion which -Spain sent thither to fight in the cause of American -independence, obtained the sanction of Pitt to lead -revolutionary expeditions against the Spanish -authorities in Venezuela, and was concerned in all the -liberative movements of his time, whether in Caracas -or Buenos-Ayres. He formed an alliance between -the destinies of the continent and the ambition of -England, the gold of the London bankers, and the -interests of English merchants, and so contributed, -even more than by his abortive enterprises, to the -cause of American liberty. -</p> - -<p> -The cycle of the Precursors closed and that of the -Liberators opened. The Spanish reaction had not -vanquished the revolutionary principle. The first -<i>caudillos</i> were dead; they were replaced by fresh -leaders: the Directors, energetic and impassioned: -Belgrano and San Martin in the Argentine, -Dr. Francia in Paraguay, Artigas in Uruguay, Iturbide -in Mexico, General Morazan in Central America, -King Pedro I. in Brazil, and Bolivar, the liberator -of five republics. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-066"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-066.jpg" alt="GENERAL FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA (VENEZUELA). Who prepared for the liberation of his country." /> -<br /> -GENERAL FRANCISCO DE MIRANDA (VENEZUELA).<br /> -Who prepared for the liberation of his country. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -Belgrano, an economic reformer, a supporter of -commercial liberty, a founder of schools, was the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P67"></a>67}</span> -leader of the Argentine emancipation. He fought -in Paraguay, where he suggested autonomy; in -Uruguay, in the Argentine Sierra, and on the frontiers -of Upper Peru. He was not a fortunate leader; -he won the battle of Tucuman, but he was defeated -by the royalists in other battles: Vilcapugio and -Ayohuma. He retired, then returned to the struggle; -took part in the civil wars against the dissident -leaders, defended the constitutional monarchy at the -Congress of Tucuman, and from 1808 to 1820 -personified the uncertain progress of the Argentine -revolution. -</p> - -<p> -San Martin was his superior as a successful fighter, -and in the scope of his action as liberator; he was -a continental figure. A great general, able to -organise armies and lead them to victory, his mind -was methodical and conservative; he disliked -abstractions, and was concrete and positive in his -plans. He delivered Chili and contributed to the -independence of Peru. While others were drawing -up political programmes he was winning battles. He -recalls Washington by the disinterested nobility of -his character; he refused power after liberating two -nations, and condemned himself to exile, being -surrounded by ambitious generals who quarrelled for -the supreme power. In action he was simple and -orderly, and progressive; he defeated the Spaniards -at San Lorenzo in 1813, giving proof of admirable -warlike qualities; he then led the army of the -North which fought in Upper Peru, and became the -intendant of an Argentine province, Cuyo, in 1814. -There he formed an army, and proposed to cross the -Andes to the aid of the Chilian patriots. According -to a French military critic, M. Charles Malo, "the -passage of the Andes was in no way surpassed by the -more famous passage of the Alps by the French." The -summits of the Cordilleras are over twelve -thousand feet high; and it was across them that -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P68"></a>68}</span> -the army of San Martin, decimated and heroic, -victorious over cold and fatigue, made its way into -Chili. From that time forward the Argentine leader -was an American general. At the foot of the -Cordilleras, on the flanks of Chacabuco, he gained -a decisive battle over the Spaniards (1817). He -dislodged them from the summits which they occupied -and entered Santiago in triumph, and was there -proclaimed supreme director of Chili. He accepted -the command of the armies, and was thereafter -victorious at Maipo (1818), where his artillery put -the royalists to flight. Chilian independence once -assured, he aspired to fresh victories in Peru. -American autonomy was his unfaltering ambition. -</p> - -<p> -The Peruvian viceroyalty was the centre of the -Spanish power, the treasury and arsenal of the -royalists. Bolivar, in Colombia, and San Martin, -in Chili, understood that all their victories would -remain futile if they did not defeat Spain in the -richest and most impregnable of her domains. Lord -Cochrane, an English privateer, who had seen service -in the Mediterranean, formed a squadron in Chilian -waters for the purpose of dominating the Pacific -(1819). He defeated the Spanish fleet at Callao, -and declared a blockade of the Peruvian ports as far -as Guayaquil. During this time San Martin was -making ready, with his Argentine and Chilian troops, -for his expedition of liberation. The Peruvian -revolutionaries were awaiting him. He landed at -Pisco (1820) with his army, and proclaimed the -independence of Peru at Lima, which the Spaniards -had deserted, on the 21st of July, 1821. Appointed -Protector of the Republic which he had founded, he -promulgated a provisional Constitution. Then from -the North came another Liberator, Bolivar, to discuss -with San Martin, in that mysterious interview at -Guayaquil, the destinies of the Spanish New World. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-068"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-068.jpg" alt="SAN MARTIN. General of Argentine, Liberator of Chile, and Protector of Peru." /> -<br /> -SAN MARTIN. <br /> -General of Argentine, Liberator of Chile, and Protector of Peru. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -San Martin, stoical and silent, yielded to the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P69"></a>69}</span> -impetuosity of Bolivar, abandoned Peru to him, the -theatre of his future deeds of prowess, renounced -his position (1822), and left America. His -ambition, like his genius, was circumscribed; he -preferred military glory to dictatorships; he believed -in the benefits of foreign monarchies: he could -organise armies, but he was powerless before anarchy. -</p> - -<p> -Bolivar is the greatest of the American liberators. -He surpasses some in ambition, others in heroism, -and all in multiform activity, in prophetic insight, -and in power. He was, amid the glorious generals -and rival <i>caudillos</i>, the hero of Carlyle, "source of -light, of intimate and native originality, virility, -nobility, and heroism, in contact with whom every -soul feels that it is in its element." All powers -yielded to him. "Often," writes General Santander, -"I go to him full of rancour, and only to see him -disarms me, and I go away full of admiration." The -people, with an infallible instinct, understood -his heroic mission and worshipped him; the clergy -praised him, and the glory of Bolivar was sung in -the Catholic churches. He was statesman and -warrior; he could criticise Olmedo's ode on the -battle of Junin, decide the make-up of a journal, -draw a plan of battle, organise legions, draft statutes, -give diplomatic advice, and direct great campaigns; -his genius was as rich and as various as that of -Napoleon. Five nations, which he had snatched from -the rule of Spain, seemed to him a narrow theatre -for his magnificent career; he conceived a vast -plan of Continental federation. At Panama he -assembled the ambassadors of ten republics, and was -already dreaming of an amphictyonic league of -nations which should influence the destinies of the -world. -</p> - -<p> -Simon Bolivar was born at Caracas on the 24th of -July, 1783, of a noble family of Vascongadas. In -his youth he travelled through Europe in company -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P70"></a>70}</span> -with his tutor, Simon Rodriguez: an austere mentor. -He studied the Latin classics, Montesquieu, Rousseau, -Holbach, and the Encyclopædists. Before his tutor, -at Rome, on the Monte Sacro, he swore, like Hannibal -of old, to consecrate his life to the liberation of his -native country. He was nervous, impetuous, sensual—traits -of the American Creole of the South; active -and persevering in his undertakings, as an heir to the -tenacity of the Biscayan should be; generous to a -fault, and valiant to the verge of folly. He had -the bearing and the features of a typical <i>caudillo</i>; -the forehead high, the back straight; a luminous -glance that impressed both friends and enemies, a -resolute air, and eloquent gestures. His was a nature -shaped for action, unhesitating and immediate; he -had the face and the genius of an Imperator. At -Caracas, after his long years of travel, he kept his -Roman oath. From 1813 to 1830 he fought against -the Spaniards and against his own generals, -indefatigable in his task of liberation. Two terrible -Iberian warriors, Boves and Morillo, carried "war -to the death" into Venezuela. Bolivar opposed them, -aided by Bermudez Piar, Mariño, and Paez, -lieutenants alternately for and against him during his -warlike career. In the Antilles he made ready for -many expeditions. He was appointed supreme leader, -provisional president, and director of the country; -his generals doubted him, were jealous of his fame, -and conspired against his authority, but Bolivar -continued the war in the midst of the anarchy of -Colombia. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-071"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-071.jpg" alt="BOLIVAR IN 1810." /> -<br /> -BOLIVAR IN 1810. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -He routed the Spaniards at Boyaca in 1819, and at -Carabobo in 1821, and entered Caracas victorious. -Colombia liberated, he turned to Quito. One of his -lieutenants, Sucre, a man heroic and noble as the -heroes of antiquity, won fresh battles at Bombona -and Pinchincha (1822). Peru appealed to the -Liberator, to "Bolivar, the hero of America." -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P71"></a>71}</span> -</p> - -<p> -The Colombian <i>caudillo</i> did not ignore the perils -of the undertaking; the Spanish troops were good -fighters; they had been victorious, and were not -without resources in the Sierra; and the Peruvian -and Colombian allies were inferior to them in -experience and cohesion. "This matter of the war -in Peru demands an enormous effort and inexhaustible -resources," he wrote to Sucre. Impelled by -his genius, he accepted the offer of the Peruvians, for -he did not forget that "the loss of Peru would -necessarily involve that of the whole of the south -of Colombia." The Congress of Lima invested him -with "the supreme military authority throughout the -territory of the Republic." Two great battles, Junin -and Ayacucho (1824), assured the independence of -America. At Junin Bolivar led a cavalry charge -which decided the day, which was followed by a -hand-to-hand fight, not a single musket-shot being heard -above the ring and clash of the sabres. Sucre was -the hero of Ayacucho: it was he who devised the -admirable plan of battle. The patriots were 6,000, -the Spaniards 9,000. The Spanish artillery was -superior to that of the allies. The enemy opened -fire, descending the hillsides; the two lines of battle -drew together. Night brought a truce; the officers -of the two armies chatted in friendly groups before -the coming conflict. On the morning of the 9th of -December a charge of cavalry under General Cordova -scattered the Spanish battalions: whereupon the -royalist reserve came into action. The left wing of -the allies wavered, but was reinforced, and the victory -was complete. The Spanish army capitulated, its -generals surrendered, and Peru was abandoned by -its ancient rulers. Bolivar praised the heroism of -Sucre, "the father of Ayacucho, the saviour of the -sons of the sun," and Lima lauded the Liberator -to the skies, proclaimed him the father and saviour -of Peru, and elected him permanent President. After -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P72"></a>72}</span> -these victories the capture of Potosi by the troops -of Sucre and the reduction of the fortress of Callao, -where the <i>penates</i> of Spain were guarded, terminated -Bolivar's magnificent career. His last years were -melancholy, like a tropical twilight. Paez and -Santander revolted against him; he was given the -supreme power and deprived of it; he was offered -a crown, and was the victim of conspiracy. The -Liberator died, abandoned, a tragic figure, at Santa -Marta, on the deserted Colombian coast, like -Napoleon at St. Helena, at the age of forty-seven, -on the 17th of December, 1830. -</p> - -<p> -Statesman and general, Bolivar was even greater -in the assembly than on the field of battle. Equal -to Sucre and San Martin as tactician, as politician -he was the greatest of all the <i>caudillos</i>. He was the -thinker of the Revolution; he drafted statutes, -analysed the social condition of the democracies he -liberated, and foretold the future with the precision -of a seer. The enemy of ideologists, like the great -First Consul, an idealist and a romantic, a lover of -syntheses in the region of ideas and of politics, he -never forgot the rude environment of his deeds. His -Latin dreams were tempered by a Saxon realism. A -disciple of Rousseau, he wished "the will of the -people to be the only power existing on the face of -the earth"; but in the face of an anarchical -democracy he sought uneasily for a moral power. In 1823 -he thought that the sovereignty of the people was not -illimitable: "justice is its basis, and perfect utility -sets a term to it." A republican—"since Napoleon -has been a monarch," he said, he who so admired -Napoleon, "his glory seems to me a gleam from -Hell"—he wished, despite the servile admiration of -his friends, to be neither a Napoleon nor an Iturbide. -He disdained all imperial pomp; he wished to be -merely the soldier of the Independence. He made -a profound analysis of the failings of a future -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P73"></a>73}</span> -monarchy in the old Spanish colonies. At the -Conference of Guayaquil (1822) San Martin represented -the monarchical tendency, Bolivar the republican -principle. Their opposition was irreconcilable, said -Mitre, the Argentine historian, for one was working -for the Argentine hegemony and the other for the -Colombian: the first respected the individuality of -the separate peoples and would only accept -intervention in exceptional cases; the second wished to -unite the various peoples according to a "plan of -absorption and monocracy."[<a id="chap0103fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0103fn2">2</a>] This antagonism called -for a superior point of agreement, a synthesis, for the -Colombian doctrine brought with it as a reaction the -premature formation of unstable democracies, and -the Argentine theory favoured indifference, egoism, -and the isolation of nations united by race, tradition, -and history. -</p> - -<p> -The genius, aristocratic pride, and ambition of -Bolivar impelled him towards autocracy. He -exercised a dictatorship and believed in the benefits of -a permanent presidency. "In republics," he stated, -"the executive power should be of the strongest, for -all conspire against it; while in monarchies the -legislative power should be supreme, for all conspire -in favour of the monarch. Hence the necessity of -giving a republican magistrate more authority than -a constitutional prince." He did not forget the -dangers of an autocratic presidency; but he feared -anarchy, "the ferocious hydra of discordant -anarchy," which grew like a noxious vegetation, -stifling his triumphant work. He regarded with -amazement the contradictions of American life: -disorder leads to dictatorship, and the latter is the -enemy of democracy. "The permanence of power -in a single individual," writes the Liberator, "has -often marked the end of democratic governments." Yet -"indefinite liberty, absolute democracy, are -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P74"></a>74}</span> -snares in which all republican hopes come to -grief." Liberty without licence, authority without tyranny: -such was the ideal of Bolivar. In vain did he struggle -single-handed amid ambitious generals and a -disordered people; before he died he understood the -vanity of his efforts. "Those who have served the -cause of the Revolution," he cried, "have ploughed -the sand.... If it were possible that a portion -of the world should return to its primitive chaos, such -would be the last phase of America." He denounced -the moral poverty of these new republics with the -severity of a Hebrew prophet. "There is no faith in -America, neither in men nor in nations. Their -treaties are waste paper; their constitutions are -paper and ink; their elections are battles; liberty is -anarchy, and life a torment." -</p> - -<p> -This pessimism, the <i>credo</i> of his maturity, was born -of his implacable analysis of American failings. -Bolivar understood the original traits and the vices -of the new continent. "We are," he said, "a small -human family; we possess a world of our own, -surrounded by vast oceans; new in almost every -art and science, although, in a certain sense, old in -the usages of civil society. The present state of -America recalls the fall of the Roman Empire, when -each part formed a distinct political system, in -conformity with its interests, its situation, or its -corporations." "We shall not see, nor the generation -following us," he wrote in 1822, "the triumph of -the America we are founding: I regard America -as in the chrysalis. There will be a metamorphosis -in the physical life of its inhabitants; there will -finally be a new caste, of all the races, which will -result in the homogeneity of the people." -</p> - -<p> -While scholars were constructing Utopias, imitating, -in their provisional statutes, the federal constitution -of the United States, and legislating for an -ideal democracy, Bolivar was studying the social -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P75"></a>75}</span> -conditions of America. "We are not Europeans," -he wrote, "nor Indians either; but a kind of -half-way species between the aborigines and the -Spaniards; American by birth, European by right, -we find ourselves forced to dispute our titles of -possession with the natives, and to maintain -ourselves in the country which saw our birth in spite -of the opposition of invaders: so that our case is -all the more extraordinary and complicated." "Let -us be careful not to forget that our race is neither -European nor North American; but rather a -composite of America and Africa, than an emanation -from Europe, since Spain herself ceased to be -European by virtue of her African [Arab] blood, -her institutions, and her character." -</p> - -<p> -The Liberator proposed political institutions suited -to a continent which in its territory and race and -history was original. He was in favour of a tutelary -authority: "The American States need the care -of paternal governments which will heal the wounds -and sores of despotism and war." He loathed -federalism and the division of power: "Let us -abandon the federal forms of government: they are -not suited to us. Such a form of society is a -regularised anarchy, or rather a law which implicitly -prescribes the necessity of dissociating and ruining -the State in all its members.... Let us abandon -the Triumvirate of the Executive Power, by concentrating -it in the person of a President, and conferring -on him a sufficient authority to enable him to maintain -himself and contend against the inconveniences -inherent in our recent situation." He taught valuable -lessons in public wisdom: "To form a stable -Government we must have the basis of a national -spirit which has for its object a uniform inclination -towards two capital points: to moderate the general -will and limit the public authority. The blood of -our fellow-citizens presents many diversities: let us -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P76"></a>76}</span> -mix it in order to unify it; our constitution has -divided its powers: let us confound them in order -to unite them.... We ought to induce immigration -of the peoples of North America and Europe, in -order that they may settle here and bring us their arts -and sciences. These advantages, an independent -government, free schools, and intermarriage with -Europeans and Anglo-Americans, will totally change -the character of the country, and will render it -well-informed and prosperous.... We lack mechanics -and agriculturists, and it is these that the country has -need of to ensure advancement and progress." In -Bolivar's writings are to be found the best -programmes of political and social reform for America; -he was the first sociologist of these romantic -democracies. -</p> - -<p> -Carabobo and Junin were his great military -triumphs; the letter from Jamaica (1815), the -constitutional project of Angostura (1819), the statute -of Bolivia (1825), and the Congress of Panama -(1826) were his most admirable political creations. -To unite the American nations in a permanent -assembly; to oppose Anglo-Saxon power by Latin force, -the necessary factor of Continental equilibrium; to -labour in favour of unity and synthesis: such was the -aim of the abortive Assembly of Panama. The letter -from Jamaica was a prophecy which the docile reality -was to accomplish during the century. "From the -nature of the different regions of the country, from -the wealth, population, and character of the -Mexicans," said the Liberator, "I imagine that they -will attempt in the beginning to establish a -representative Republic in which the Executive will have -very wide attributes and will be concentred in a -single person, who, if he governs with wisdom and -justice, will attain almost naturally to irremovable -authority." "If the preponderant party is military or -aristocratic, it will be in favour of a monarchy, which -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P77"></a>77}</span> -will probably be limited and constitutional in the first -place, but will very soon become absolute." The -presidency of Porfirio Diaz, the empire of Iturbide -and Maximilian, supported by the monarchist party, -and even the dictatorship of Juarez, and the powers -which the Mexican constitutions have conferred on -the head of the State, all confirmed the predictions -of Bolivar. "The States of the Isthmus of Panama -as far as Guatemala will form a federation." This -federation existed until 1842, and to-day the Central -American republics are slowly returning to it. -Panama was for the Liberator the emporium of the -world. "Its canals will shorten the distances of -the world, will strengthen the ordinary ties -between Europe, America, and Asia, and will bring -to this happy region the tribute of the four quarters -of the globe. There alone, perhaps, the capital of -the world might be set, as Constantine pretended to -make of Byzantium the capital of the ancient world." -</p> - -<p> -"New Granada will unite itself to Venezuela in -order to form a Central Republic, whose capital will -be Maracaibo, or a new city, which, under the name -of Las Casas (in honour of that hero of philanthropy), -will spring up on the confines of the two -countries, on the superb harbour of Bahia-Honda." Bolivar -kept Venezuela and New Granada united -until 1830; then new leaders, such as General -Mosquera, wished to establish the federation which -even to-day is still the object of the politicians of -Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia. "At Buenos-Ayres -there will be a central government, in which -the military power will be supreme as a consequence -of intestine divisions and external war." This is -a prophecy of Argentine history up to the advent -of Rosas, the struggles of the <i>caudillos</i>, and the -anarchy of 1820. "This constitution will necessarily -degenerate into an oligarchy or a monocracy." -And a plutocratic group did actually rule in Buenos-Ayres, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P78"></a>78}</span> -and over all rose the monocracy of Rosas. -"Chili is called by the nature of her situation, by the -simple customs of her virtuous inhabitants, and the -example of her neighbours, the proud Republicans -of Araucania, to enjoy the benefits of the just and -mild laws of a republic. If any republic lasts long -in America I incline to think it will be the Chilian.... -Chili will not alter her laws, manners, or -practices; she will maintain the uniformity of her -political and religious opinions." The long stability -of the Araucanian nation, the homogeneity of its -population, the lasting nature of its political charter, -the conservative character of its institutions, the slow -and steady development of Chili until the war of -the Pacific and the revolution of 1891, fully realised -the prophecies of Bolivar. "Peru includes two -elements inimical to all just and liberal government—gold -and slavery. The first corrupts everything; the -second is corrupt in itself. The soul of a serf rarely -succeeds in taking liberty sanely. It rushes -furiously into tumult, or lives humiliated in chains. -Although these rules are applicable to all America, -I believe they apply with most reason to Lima. -There the rich will not tolerate the democracy, and -the slaves and the liberated slaves will not tolerate -the aristocracy; the first will prefer the tyranny of -a single person, in order to avoid popular persecutions -and to establish a rule that will at least be -pacific." The evolution of Peru proved the profound -truth of this statement. The oligarchy accepted -military dictators, who upheld property and preserved -peace. As early as 1815, when America was still -a Spanish domain, Bolivar, watching the spectacle -of social forces in conflict, announced not merely the -immediate struggles, but the secular development of -ten nations. He was a great prophet. To-day, a -century later, the continent is fulfilling his predictions -as though they were a fate strangely laid upon it. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P79"></a>79}</span> -</p> - -<p> -At Angostura the Liberator placed before the -Colombians a draft of a constitution. The bases of -this constitution were republican government, the -sovereignty of the people, the division of powers, -civil liberty, and the abolition of slavery and of -privilege. In this remarkable essay we find the -theories of Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Bentham, the -realism of England and the democratic enthusiasm -of France. The legislative power is to be -composed of two chambers: the first popularly elected, -and the Senate hereditary, according to the English -tradition, formed by the Liberators who would found -the nobility of America. The president is a kind -of constitutional king; his ministers, who are to -be responsible, will govern. The judiciary will -acquire stability and independence. A new authority, -the Moral Power, completes the political structure. -This Moral Power of the Liberator's Republic is an -imitation of the Athenian Areopagus and the Roman -censors: it is to be responsible for education and -ensure respect for morality and the law; "it -chastises vice by opprobrium and infamy, and -rewards the public virtues by honour and glory." Bolivar -had a tendency towards moral and intellectual -despotism: this tribunal was to compel good -behaviour. Later the Liberator condemned the -teachings of Bentham in the Universities of Colombia, -and accepted Catholicism as an instrument of the -Government. Article 2 of the Angostura draft states -that "ingratitude, disrespect, and disloyalty toward -parents, husbands, the aged, the magistrates, and -citizens recognised and proclaimed as virtuous; the -breaking of the given word, in no matter what -connection; insensibility before public misfortunes or -those affecting friends or immediate relations, are -recommended especially to the vigilance of this -moral power." This was paternal tyranny, exercised -over the feelings, the conduct, and the passions. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P80"></a>80}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Bolivar created a republic—Upper Peru, which was -to call itself Bolivia in memory of its founder. He -gave it the constitution he wished, but in vain, to -apply to Peru and Colombia. He developed there -the ideas expounded in the Angostura draft, and -thereby defined his ideal of a republic; it was, in -fact, a monarchy in which the power was hereditary. -The president must be irremovable and irresponsible, -"for in systems without hierarchy there must be—more -than in others—a fixed point upon which magistrates -and citizens, men and things, may revolve." Against -anarchy, a fixed magistracy; against tyranny, -independent powers; the judiciary elected by -Congress among the citizens nominated by the electoral -colleges; the legislature composed of three -chambers: tribunes, senators, and censors. The first -exercise their functions for four years, the second for -eight, and the last are permanent, "and exercise a -moral and political control"; they constitute the -"moral power." With this system the Liberator -avoided political anarchy and the destructive ambition -of the <i>caudillos</i>, constituting two stable forces -in the midst of shifting democracies—the censors and -the permanent president. He adapted unity and -permanence—characteristics of the constitutional -monarchy—to republicanism. The generals quickly -realised that this constitution was a menace to them, -and rose against it in Bolivia, in Peru, and in -Colombia. -</p> - -<p> -The founders of the Independence were surrounded -by brilliant leaders, such as O'Higgins, the Carreras, -Güemes, La Mar, Santander, Santa-Cruz, and Sucre, -admirable as hero and statesman; but above them, -dominating them all like an oak in the midst of -saplings, according to the classic image, towered -Bolivar, Liberator of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, -Peru, and Bolivia. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-080"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-080.jpg" alt="BOLIVAR. The Liberator of Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia." /> -<br /> -BOLIVAR. <br /> -The Liberator of Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -He was the genius of the South American Revolution. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P81"></a>81}</span> -He felt himself dominated by "the dæmon -of war." Like all great tormented spirits since -Socrates, he obeyed, in his impetuous campaigns, an -interior divinity. In his acts and his speeches, in his -dignity and his faith, there was a notable grandeur. -He worked for eternity, accumulating dreams and -Utopias, dominating the hostile earth and censorious -man; he was the Superman of Nietzsche, the -representative man of Emerson. He belonged to the -ideal family of Napoleon and Cæsar; a sublime -creator of nations; greater than San Martin, greater -than Washington. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -II. From France, as emissaries of the ideal, came -the doctrines of the Revolution. In the Encyclopædia -we find the intellectual origin of the South -American upheavals. The patricians in the archaic -colonial cities smiled upon Voltaire; they adopted -the essential ideals of Rousseau, the social contract, -the sovereignty of the people, and the optimism -which conceded supreme rights to the human spirit -untainted by culture. Bolivar had read the <i>Contrat -Social</i> in a volume that had formed part of the library -of Napoleon; by will he left this book to an intimate -friend. The great, sounding promises—democracy, -sovereignty, human rights, equality, liberalism—stirred -the patriotic tribunes like fragments of a -new gospel. The masonic lodges worked in silence -against the power of Spain and Portugal, and upheld -the humanitarian ideas of French philosophy. In -the lodge of Lautaro, San Martin and Alvear received -their initiation as revolutionaries. In Mexico the -lodge of York was transformed into a Jacobin club. -In 1794 Antonio Nariño, the forerunner of -Colombian independence, translated the <i>Rights of Man</i>. -The Venezuelan Miranda fought in the revolutionary -armies of France; the Peruvian Pablo de Olavide, -the friend of Voltaire, took part in the Convention; -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P82"></a>82}</span> -Raynal, Condorcet, and Mably had American -disciples. Montesquieu was read in the universities -as an antidote to the absolutism of the viceroys; -Beccaria, Filangeri, and Adam Smith were among -the prophets. Not only did French thought predominate, -but the Revolution, the Terror, the Jacobin -madness, the eloquence of the Girondins, the -dictatorship of the First Consul, and the Empire, even, all -exercised an immense influence upon the rising -democracies of America. Iturbide, Emperor of -Mexico, imitated Napoleon; in Buenos-Ayres there -was a Directoire, as in Paris; there were consuls in -Paraguay, and Rivadavia was a Girondist lost among -the <i>gauchos</i>. -</p> - -<p> -To the aid of French theory came the example -of North America; Washington and the federal -system served the Iberian statesmen as models. -Belgrano exalted the first President of the United -States as a hero "worthy of the admiration of our -own age and of the generations to come—an example -of moderation and true patriotism." He translated -the <i>Farewell Address</i>, which was his favourite -reading. Bolivar wished to be the Washington of South -America. One of the forerunners of Brazilian -independence, José Joaquin de Maia, had known Jefferson -in Paris, and informed him that "the Brazilians -considered the North American Revolution as the -expression of their desires, and they counted on the -assistance of the United States." The first South -American constitutions betrayed this double -influence; they adopted the policy of federalism, -copying the political organisation of the United States, -and were inspired by French ideas. They destroyed -the privileges of the nobility, and established equality -of caste. This was the case with the first Venezuelan -constitution, despite the efforts of Miranda and -Bolivar—opponents of federation. The Chilian -constitution of 1822 and the Peruvian constitution of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P83"></a>83}</span> -1823 conferred a conservative function upon the -Senate, as in the North American Republic; and the -first Chilian statutes established federation. In -Mexico and in Central America the federal principle -dominated the constitutions of 1824 and 1826. The -Argentine constitution of 1819 was a copy "for -the united provinces of South America of the -Declaration of Independence of the United States." -</p> - -<p> -To French doctrines and the example of the -United States we must add the influence of English -ideas. Miranda and Bolivar admired the political -constitution of Great Britain, and were inspired by -it. Bolivar, in 1818, recommended the study of this -constitution: "You will find therein," he said, "the -division of powers, the only means of creating free -and independent spirits, and the liberty of the press—that -incomparable antidote to political abuses." His -enthusiasm for Voltaire and Rousseau was tempered -by a study of English methods. In his Angostura -draft he recommended a permanent Senate, a -reproduction of the House of Lords. The British -Executive—the sovereign surrounded by responsible -ministers—seemed to him "the most perfect model, -whether for a kingdom, or an aristocracy, or a -democracy." The Colombian Constitution of Cucuta -(1821), in which the political ideas of the Liberator -were predominant, merited the eulogy of the Marquis -of Lansdowne. "It has for its basis," said the -English minister, "the two most just and solid -principles"—property and education. Miranda laid -before Pitt a constitutional essay inspired by British -ideas, with a House of Commons, an Upper Chamber -composed of hereditary Inca <i>caciques</i> and censors; -in which curious project we find American traditions -mingled with political forms borrowed from the -English. -</p> - -<p> -Spain also contributed to the development of the -revolutionary ideas. She united the populations of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P84"></a>84}</span> -America under her crushing authority; she combined -in a single body all the disinherited castes -which were later to struggle for independence. -</p> - -<p> -"The despotic rigour of authority," wrote Bauza, -"unites all these heterogeneous elements with a rigid -tie, and forms a race of them."[<a id="chap0103fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0103fn3">3</a>] The Napoleonic -invasion provoked a reaction in the peninsula: the -<i>juntas</i>—provisional representations of nationality—took -the place of the captured king. The central -<i>junta</i> proclaimed in 1808 that "the American -provinces are not colonies, but integral portions of the -monarchy, equal in their rights to the rest of the -Spanish provinces." In 1810 the Regency informed -the American colonies: "Your fate depends upon -neither ministers nor viceroys nor governors: it is -in your own hands." The constitution of the Cortes -of Cadiz (1812), at which the deputies of the colonies -were present, declared "that the Spanish Union -cannot be the patrimony of a person nor a -family—that sovereignty resides essentially in the -nation—and that the right of making law belongs to the -Cortes and the king." In these documents, independence, -national sovereignty, the idea of the native -country, and the functions of the assemblies came -overseas from the metropolis. The struggles against -privateers, against the English invasions of -Buenos-Ayres and the Dutch invasions of Brazil, and the -influence of the territory itself, created the -sentiment of nationality in America. French, English, -and Spanish ideas fertilised this vague aspiration. -Before imposing themselves upon the universities -and assemblies these ideas became current in the -journals and the meetings of the <i>cabildo</i> and revealed -to the Creole oligarchy its desire for independence. -</p> - -<p> -From 1808 to 1825 all things conspired to help -the cause of American liberty; revolutions in -Europe, ministers in England, the independence of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P85"></a>85}</span> -the United States, the excesses of Spanish -absolutism, the constitutional doctrines of Cadiz, the -romantic faith of the Liberators, the political -ambition of the oligarchies, the ideas of Rousseau and -the Encyclopædists, the decadence of Spain, and -the hatred which all the classes and castes in America -entertained for the Inquisitors and the viceroys. -So many forces united engendered a sorry and -divided world. The genesis of the southern republics -is rude and heroic as a <i>chanson de geste</i>. Then -history degenerates until it becomes a comedy of -mean and petty interests—a revolutionary orgy. -Such was the evolution of South America during the -nineteenth century. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0103fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0103fn1text">1</a>] Gil Fortoul, <i>Historia Constitucional de Venezuela</i>, -Berlin, 1907, vol. i, p. 465. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0103fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0103fn2text">2</a>] <i>Historia de San Martin</i>, Buenos-Ayres, 1903, vol. i. p. 3. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0103fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0103fn3text">3</a>] <i>Historia de la Dominacion española en el Uruguay</i>, -vol. ii. p. 647. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - - -<p><a id="chap0104"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P86"></a>86}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER IV -<br /><br /> -MILITARY ANARCHY AND THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Anarchy and dictatorship—The civil wars: their -significance—Characteristics of the industrial period. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Spencer observed the invariable succession of two -periods in the development of human affairs—the -military and the industrial period. Bagehot -contrasted a primitive epoch of authority and a posterior -epoch of discussion. Sumner-Maine discovered a -historic law—the progress from status to contract; -from the <i>régime</i> imposed by despotic governors to -a flexible organisation accepted by free wills. Thus, -in three different formulæ, we may express the same -principle of evolution. In the beginning a warlike -and theocratic authority determines ritual, customs, -dogma, and laws. The common conscience is potent; -individuality accepts without discussion or scepticism -the essential rules of social life. History is thereafter -a struggle between authority and liberty, a -progressive affirmation of autonomous wills, an assertion -of destructive and censorious individualism. -</p> - -<p> -In America political development presents the same -successive phases. Invariably we find the sequence -of the two periods, one military and one industrial -or civil. The Independence realised, the rule of -militarism sets in throughout the republics. After a -period of uncertain duration the military caste is -hurled from power, or abdicates without violence, and -economic interests become supreme. Politics are -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P87"></a>87}</span> -then ruled by "civilism." The military <i>régime</i> is -not theocratic, as in some European monarchies; the -President does not combine the functions of religion -and empire. None the less, the civil period involves -a fatal reaction against the Church—a period of -anti-clericalism or radicalism. The revolution is -confined to a change of oligarchies: the military group -gives way to plutocracy. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-087"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-087.jpg" alt="GENERAL JUAN JOSÉ FLORES. President of Ecuador (1831-1835 and 1839-1843)." /> -<br /> -GENERAL JUAN JOSÉ FLORES. <br /> -President of Ecuador (1831-1835 and 1839-1843). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -As the generals of Alexander disputed, after his -death, for the provinces of Europe, Asia, and Africa, -the remains of the imperial feast, and founded new -dynasties in the flood of Oriental decadence, so the -lieutenants of Bolivar dominated American life for -a period of fifty years. Flores in Ecuador, Paez in -Venezuela, Santa-Cruz in Bolivia, and Santander in -Colombia, governed as the heirs of the Liberator. -So long as the shadow of the magnificent warrior lay -upon the destinies of America, so long the <i>caudillos</i> -triumphed, consecrated by the choice of Bolivar. -The monarchial principle was thus forced upon -unconscious humanity. The Liberator left America in -the hands of a dynasty. -</p> - -<p> -The wars of the peoples were therefore civil -conflicts; the quarrels of generals ambitious of -hegemony. United in independence, united during the -colonial period, the new nations were divided, and -stood aside at the suggestion of these warriors; as -Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, in the name of Santa-Cruz -or Gamarra, Castilla or Flores. The national -conscience was roughly shaped upon the field of -battle. The generals imposed arbitrary limits upon -the peoples; they are the creators in American -history; they impress the crowds by their pomp -and pageantry; by military displays as brilliant as -the gaudy processions of the Catholic cult; by -magnificent escorts and decorations and forms of -etiquette; they call themselves Regenerators, -Restorers, Protectors. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P88"></a>88}</span> -</p> - -<p> -This first period is troublous, but full of colour, -energy, and violence. The individual acquires an -extraordinary prestige, as in the time of the Tuscan -Renaissance, the French Terror, or the English -Revolution. The rude and bloodstained hand of -the <i>caudillo</i> forces the amorphous masses into durable -moulds. South America is ruled by ignorant -soldiers: the evolution of her republics must -therefore be uncertain. There is, therefore, no history -properly so called, for it has no continuity; there is -a perpetual <i>ricorso</i> brought about by successive -revolutions; the same men appear with the same -promises and the same methods. The political -comedy is repeated periodically: a revolution, a -dictator, a programme of national restoration. -Anarchy and militarism are the universal forms of -political development. -</p> - -<p> -As in European revolutions, anarchy leads to -dictatorship; and this provokes immediate -counter-revolution. From spontaneous disorder we pass to -a formidable tutelage. The example of France is -repeated on a new stage; the anarchy of the -Convention announces the autocracy of Bonaparte. The -dictators, like the kings of feudalism, defeat the -local <i>caciques</i>, the provincial generals; thus did -Porfirio Diaz, Garcia Moreno, Guzman-Blanco, &c. -And revolution follows revolution until the advent -of the destined tyrant, who dominates the life of -the nation for twenty or thirty years. -</p> - -<p> -Material progress is the work of the autocracy; as -witness the rule of Rosas, Guzman-Blanco, Portales, -and Diaz. The great <i>caudillos</i> will have nothing to -do with abstractions; their realistic minds urge them -to encourage commerce and industry, immigration -and agriculture. By imposing long periods of peace -they favour the development of economic forces. -</p> - -<p> -In matters political and economic the dictators -profess Americanism. They represent the new mixed -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P89"></a>89}</span> -race, tradition, and the soil. They are hostile to -the rule of the Roman Church, of European capital, -and of foreign diplomacy. Their essential function, -like that of the modern kings after feudalism, is to -level mankind and unite the various castes. Tyrants -found democracies; they lean on the support of -the people, the half-breeds and negroes, against the -oligarchies; they dominate the colonial nobility, -favour the crossing of races, and free the slaves. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-089"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-089.jpg" alt="ARTIGAS. Liberator of Uraguay." /> -<br /> -ARTIGAS. <br /> -Liberator of Uraguay. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -Anarchy is spontaneous, like that which Taine -discovered in the Jacobin Revolution. There is a -movement hostile to organisation, to civilisation: -thus Artigas fought at once against the King of -Spain, the Argentine Revolution, and the Portuguese. -He would have no subjection; he was a patriot to -the death. Güemes fought against Spaniards and -Argentines. The <i>caudillos</i> are like chiefs of -barbarian tribes; they uphold local autonomy, division, -and chaos. Sarmiento compares Lopez, Ibarra, and -Quiroga, violent chieftains of the Argentine sierra -and pampa, to Genghis Khan or Tamerlane. -"Individualism," he says, "is their essence; the horse -their only arm; the pampa their theatre." The -<i>montoneras</i> are Tartar hordes, burned by the sun—a -wild, devastating force. Their leaders represent -the genius of the continent; they have the rudeness, -the fatality of natural forces. Like Igdrasil, the -fantastic tree of Scandinavian mythology, they send -their roots deep into the earth, into the obscure -kingdom of the dead. -</p> - -<p> -The general ideas of this period are simple. There -is a faith in the efficacy of political constitutions, -and these are multiplied; men aspire to ideological -perfection. They believe in the omnipotence of -congresses, and distrust the Government. Constitutions -separate the powers and enfeeble the executive, -rendering it ephemeral; they divide authority by -creating triumvirates, consulates, and governmental -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P90"></a>90}</span> -<i>juntas</i>. The liberalism of the charters is notable. -They usually establish three powers, according to the -traditional rule of Montesquieu, in order to ensure -political equilibrium; they recognise all the -theoretical liberties—liberty of the press, of assembly, -the rights of property, and industrial and commercial -liberty. They accept trial by jury, popular petition, -universal suffrage—in short, the whole republican -ideal. They consecrate a State religion, Catholicism, -thus paving the way for religious revolutions, -and all the "Red and Black" revolts and -conspiracies of South American history. Election is -in some republics direct; in others by the second -degree, by means of electoral colleges which appoint -the president and the members of the legislative -chambers. From North to South institutions are -democratic; they bestow political rights with a -generous profusion. The judicial power is -independent, sometimes elected by the people, generally -by congress. The judges are often dependent on -the executive. Justice and the law are ineffectual. -The president cannot be re-elected. -</p> - -<p> -These constitutions imitate those of France and the -United States in the democratic tendencies of the one -and the federalism of the other; they are charters -of a generous and hybrid species. The presidential -<i>régime</i> exists in reality as in the United States; the -parliaments are important in virtue of the constitution, -but in actual political life are powerless in -face of the pressure exercised by the military chiefs. -The theory of the social pact and the ideology of the -revolutionary are predominant in public speech. -</p> - -<p> -The motives of the civil wars vary. In Ecuador -men fight for the <i>caudillos</i>; in Colombia, for ideas; -in Chili, for or against the oligarchy. All the -national forces are involved in these wars. Revolution -is the common heritage of these nations. The -races which peopled America were warrior races, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P91"></a>91}</span> -both Indians and Spaniards, and their warlike spirit -explains the disorder of the republics. Castes and -traditions are inimical: the psychological instability -characteristic of primitive peoples wars upon -discipline and authority. -</p> - -<p> -Two social classes—the military class and the -intellectual or university class—had been in opposition -since the origin of the Republic. They disputed -the supreme power, or sometimes the intellectuals -sided with the generals. The "doctors," by aid of -reasonings of Byzantine subtlety, justified the -dictatorships as well as the Revolution. A Venezuelan -deputy, Coto-Paul, in 1811, pronounced a lyrical -eulogy of anarchy. -</p> - -<p> -The generals distrusted the lawyers, who represented -the intellectual tradition of the colony: Paez -hated the juriconsults as Napoleon hated ideologists. -And the "doctors," vanquished by the military -power, became the docile secretaries of generals and -<i>caudillos</i>; they drafted laws and constitutions, and -expressed in polished formulæ the rude intentions -of the chiefs. To the violence of these latter they -opposed subtlety; to the ignorance of despots, the -scholastic ease and knowledge acquired in the -universities of Spain. -</p> - -<p> -To the struggles of classes was added the war of -races; the half-breeds fought against the national -oligarchy; the new American class was hostile to the -aristocracy of the capitals. The Indians lived in -the towns of the interior, in which the colonial -isolation was unchanged; the metropolis—Buenos-Ayres, -Lima, or Caracas—was still Spanish and -increasingly alien. On the coast, where feeling was -more mobile and will more variable, the ideas of -reform took root; exotic ideas and customs were -introduced; while the Sierra,[<a id="chap0104fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0104fn1">1</a>] more American than -the coast, remained slow and gloomy, and ignorant -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P92"></a>92}</span> -of the brilliant unrest of the capitals. Thus a triple -movement came into being; inferior castes rose -against the colonial aristocracy, the provinces against -the all-absorbing metropolis, and the half-caste Sierra -against the cosmopolitan seaboard. -</p> - -<p> -The provinces desired autonomy; the capitals, -monopoly and unity; the metropolis was liberal, the -Sierra conservative. The political conflict might -know a change of names, but this antagonism was -universal. The leaders disguised their deep-seated -ambitions under a cloak of general ideas; they -supported unity or federation, the military or the -civil <i>régime</i>, Catholicism or radicalism. In Argentina -the provinces fought against the capital; in -Venezuela the coloured middle class against the -oligarchies; in Chili the liberals against the -<i>pelucones</i>, the proprietors of the soil; in Mexico -the federals fought the monarchists; in Ecuador the -radicals opposed the conservatives; in Peru the -conflict was between the "civilists" and military -<i>caudillos</i>. In the diversity of these quarrels we see -one essential principle: two classes were in -conflict—the proprietors of the <i>latifundia</i> and the -poverty-stricken people, the Spaniards and the -half-breeds, or the oligarchs and generals of a barbarous -democracy. -</p> - -<p> -In each republic the soil and the traditions of -the country gave a different colour to the universal -warfare. In the Argentine the provinces, under -viceroys and intendants, enjoyed a partial autonomy; -there federalism had remote antecedents. Unity -seemed an imposition on the part of Buenos-Ayres, -which possessed the treasury and the custom-houses -of the nation, and monopolised the national credit -and revenue. In Chili, the long, narrow country, -with the Cordillera at the back, like a granite wall, -naturally evoked a Unitarian republic. The disputes -between centralisation and federalism were soon over. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P93"></a>93}</span> -Unity was possible in Peru, a brilliant sub-kingdom, -the centre of a long-established and powerful -authority. But some aspects of these violent -struggles remain obscure. In Ecuador, Peru, -Venezuela, and Mexico there was enmity between the -coast and the Sierra. Lima and Caracas were -capitals near the seaboard; Mexico and Quito were -far removed from it. Yet in Peru the struggle was -civil and military; in Ecuador, conservative and -liberal; and in Mexico, federal and central. Why -do we not find the religious struggles, which lasted -so long in Colombia, in Bolivia and the Argentine? -To explain this diversity we must study the psychology -of the different <i>conquistadors</i>—Castilian, Biscayan, -Andalusian, Portuguese—and of the different -subjected races: the Quechuas, Araucanians, Chibchas, -Aztecs, and the proportion in which they were -mingled; for the action of the territory itself upon -the various admixtures of blood would vary as it -was tropical or temperate, coast or Sierra. -</p> - -<p> -The confusion of the struggles in some democracies -was extreme. The oligarchs were not always -conservatives, nor the half-breeds always liberal. -There were reactionary autocracies, like that of -Portales in Chili, and liberal autocracies like that of -Guzman-Blanco in Venezuela. The federals were -usually democrats and liberals, but they were -occasionally conservative and autocratic. The democrats -of Peru were reactionary in matters of religion; -those of Chili were radical. The civil <i>régime</i> was -conservative in Bolivia under Baptista and in -Ecuador under Garcia-Moreno, but liberal in Mexico -under Juarez and Chili under Santa-Maria and -Balmaceda. Militarism was radical under Lopez in -Colombia, but conservative under General Castilla in -Peru. When political evolution followed its logical -development, federalism, liberalism, and democracy -formed a trilogy, and oligarchy was conservative and -Unitarian. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P94"></a>94}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Revolutions, in opposing castes and uplifting the -half-breed, prepared the way for a new period. But -a democratic society cannot easily establish itself in -the face of the established aristocracies, and slavery -still survived, although softened by liberal institutions. -The military class, accessible to all, replaced the -old nobility. Confusion of races commenced as early -as 1850, when generous laws enfranchised the -negroes, and new economic interests arose to -complicate these democratic societies. Revolutions, -dictatorships, and anarchy were the necessary aspects of -the dissolution of the old society. -</p> - -<p> -The age of generals gave way to an industrial -period in which wealth increased, industries became -more complex and numerous, and labour was -subdivided, while association became more usual both in -commerce and agriculture. Co-operation, organisation, -and solidarity, unknown during the period of -anarchy, were aspects of an intense economic -development. The interests newly created sought -for peace, and the internal order which favoured their -expansion. -</p> - -<p> -Politics commenced to eschew and disdain the -squabbles of ideology, and constitutional liberties -acquired precision and efficacy. Plutocracies came -into being, and aspired to government in place of -internal revolution and external warfare; immigration, -transforming the social classification, facilitated -their advent. National progress was effected despite -the governments; it was an anonymous and collective -task. The energetic individualities of the -military epoch were followed by the laborious crowd. -The <i>caudillo</i> receded to the background of politics; -the captains of industry replaced him, the merchants -and the bankers. Courage was once the supreme -criterion of the man; now wealth is the touchstone -by which individuals and peoples are judged. The -table of human values changes; instruction, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P95"></a>95}</span> -foresight, and practical common sense determine success -in an industrial democracy. In the social ascension -of the generations which industry and commerce -have thrown forward to the attack upon the old -patrician society, the prejudices of class and religion -grow feebler, and after a century of conflict the -nations of the present day emerge. -</p> - -<p> -In the southern republics of America industrialism -is supreme in the Argentine, Uruguay, and Chili; -even in tropical Brazil. In Bolivia and Peru the -last leaders are not yet dead, the parties are still -personal, but their influence is not as decisive as -it was thirty years ago. Among the northern peoples, -from Mexico to Ecuador, anarchy and <i>caudillism</i> -still survive; there political unrest has not yet been -dominated by the principle of authority. The long -dictatorship of General Castro and certain Central -American presidents proves that the dictatorial -<i>régime</i> is the only form of government that is able -to maintain peace in these countries. -</p> - -<p> -It is hardly possible to determine the "historical -moment" at which these republics passed from the -military to the industrial system. The twilight of -the <i>caudillos</i> was a long one. Even in the -Argentine, where the economic life is magnificent and -complex, their influence persists. In Peru, Bolivia, -and Brazil there exists a latent militarism which -might quickly destroy the work of the civil presidents. -For ten years in Peru and Uruguay and Bolivia -government has followed government without -revolutionary violence, but can we say that the anarchy -of fifty years has disappeared for ever? The political -order is slowly becoming assured, and the relation -between wealth and the increase of immigration and -of peace is obvious. Even in the industrial field -evolution is the work of a few <i>caudillos</i> who have -been pacificators: General Pando in Bolivia, General -Roca in the Argentine, Pierola in Peru, and Battle -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P96"></a>96}</span> -y Ordonez in Uruguay, not to speak of the greatest -of all, Porfirio Diaz. -</p> - -<p> -Economically speaking this period of development -material is superior to the first period of sterile -revolution; it is superior also from the political -point of view, for institutions have been perfected and -their constitutional action has defined itself. The -municipalities and the legislative power have acquired -a relative autonomy; they have been victorious over -the executive, which was omnipotent during the -military period. In beauty and intensity, however, the -prosaic age of industrialism has been inferior to the -preceding period. Of old, vigorous personalities rose -above the common level, and history had the vitality -of a tragedy; men played with destiny and with -death as in the time of the Italian renaissance. -"Tyranny," writes Burckhardt, "in the ancient Latin -republics, commenced by developing to the highest -degree the individuality of the sovereign, of the -condottiere." He then demonstrates the equally -personal character of the statesmen and popular tribunes -of Florentine history.[<a id="chap0104fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0104fn2">2</a>] This analysis is applicable -to the American leaders. Heroic audacity and -perpetual and virile unrest characterise the struggles -of the <i>caciques</i>. The military cycle closed, the -republics lose this dramatic interest. Instead of -describing the history of governments we must -study the economic evolution of nations, and their -statistics of industry and commerce. In tragedy the -chorus, the crowd, becomes the essential person; -it judges and executes, it is spectator and creator, -while the heroes of old, the conquerors of destiny -and founders of cities, disappear in the mists of -the past. -</p> - -<p> -To these political changes correspond changes in -manners and customs; the cities, too, have changed -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P97"></a>97}</span> -and have lost their archaic character. The cosmopolitan -invasion has resulted in a brilliant monotony, -and interest has become the sole motive of action; -permanent war is followed by peace <i>à outrance</i>; -the republics have gained in wealth and mediocrity. -It is a period of transition: we cannot yet -distinguish the firm lineaments of the future State. -</p> - -<p> -Will the Argentine and Brazil become great -plutocratic States like the United States? Will Chili, -which is copying the social organisation of England, -be subjected, like the Anglo-Saxon Empire, to the -attacks of demagogy? The spectacle of these -enriched nations permits us to affirm only that in -revolutionary America four nations, the Argentine, -Brazil, Uruguay, and Chili, will, before the lapse -of a century, be definitively organised as republics. -</p> - -<p> -Yet these States still betray old racial -characteristics. -</p> - -<p> -"The dead found the race," writes M. Gustave -Le Bon. "The dead generations impose on us not -only their physical constitution but also their -thoughts. Forms of government matter little."[<a id="chap0104fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0104fn3">3</a>] In -the democracies of Latin America the "fundamental -revolution" of which politicians boast has been sterile; -under the republican mask the Spanish heredity -survives, deep-rooted and secular. The forms vary -but the soul of the race remains the same. -President-autocrats replace the vice-kings; the old -struggles between the governors of the State and -the bishops persist, for patronage in ecclesiastical -affairs, the prestige of the "doctors," and academic -titles. -</p> - -<p> -The ruling caste, the heir to the prejudices of -Spain, despises industry and commerce, and lives for -politics and its futile agitations. The territorial -seigneurs still have the upper hand as before the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P98"></a>98}</span> -Revolution. The ancient <i>latifundia</i> still survive, the -great domains which explain the power of the -oligarchy. Assemblies exercise a secondary function, -as the municipal <i>cabildos</i> of old. Catholicism is -still the axis of social life. The <i>picaros</i> of Spanish -romance, haughty and ingenious parasites, are still -accepted at their own value. The bureaucracy -swallows up the wealth of the exchequer; it was -formed a century ago of voracious Castilians; -to-day it consists of Americans devoid of will. Despite -the equality proclaimed by the constitutions the -Indian is subjected to the implacable tyranny of -the local authorities, the curé, the justice of peace, -and the <i>cacique</i>. Under other names the little -despots of the Spanish period are still alive and -active. -</p> - -<p> -The democracies of South America, then, are -Spanish, although the <i>élite</i> has always been inspired -by French ideas. Democracies by proclamation and -in their anarchy, equalitarian and of mixed blood, -the individual often acquires a heroic significance -like that of the supermen of Carlyle; mediæval -republics divided into irreducible families and -factions, governed by enriched merchants; Greek -republics, hostile to their own leaders, jealous of -the virtue of Aristides and the wisdom of Themistocles, -but without the plebiscitary ardour of the -Hellenic community. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0104fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0104fn1text">1</a>] The cold region of lofty table-lands. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0104fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0104fn2text">2</a>] <i>La Civilisation en Italie au temps de la Renaissance</i>, -Paris, 1885, vol. i. pp. 165 <i>et seq</i>. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0104fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0104fn3text">3</a>] <i>Les lois psychologiques de l'Evolution des peuples</i>, -Paris, 1900, pp. 13 and 71. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0201"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P99"></a>99}</span></p> - -<h2> -BOOK II -</h2> - -<p class="t3b"> -<i>THE CAUDILLOS AND THE DEMOCRACY</i> -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -The history of the South American Republics -may be reduced to the biographies of their -representative men. The national spirit is concentred -in the <i>caudillos</i>: absolute chieftains, beneficent -tyrants. They rule by virtue of personal valour -and repute, and an aggressive audacity. They -resemble the democracies by which they are -deified. Without studying the biographies of -Paez, Castilla, Santa-Cruz, and Lavalleja, it is -impossible to understand the evolution of -Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P101"></a>101}</span> -</p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I -<br /><br /> -VENEZUELA: PAEZ, GUZMAN-BLANCO -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The moral authority of Paez—The Monagas—The tyranny of -Guzman-Blanco—Material progress. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Two central figures, Paez and Guzman-Blanco, -dominate the history of Venezuela. The first founded -a republic in spite of the Unitarian aims of Bolivar; -the second established a long autocracy over the -factions and the quarrels of half a century. -</p> - -<p> -Paez was an individualist, a nomadic leader, an -impassioned champion of the district, of the native -country, as against any vast political concentration. -As the Argentine pampa gave birth to Quiroga, and -the Arabian desert engendered the mystic adventure -of the Khalifs, so the <i>llanos</i> of Venezuela created -Paez. -</p> - -<p> -Among the haughty <i>llaneros</i> of Apure he grew to -be a horseman, a lover of the infinite plains, the -leader of a nameless troop, the hero of a host of -adventures, romantic or brutal. He was born in -1790. He was a half-breed, representing the -indigenous forces in conflict with the Spanish oligarchy -and the Creole aristocracy. A democrat of the school -of Castilla and Rosas, robust and audacious, with -the perspicacity of the Indian and the pride of a -tribal chieftain, he cared only to lead armies. He -detested "literary people," "judges," and ideologues. -A lieutenant of the Liberator's, he was with -him in a hundred battles, but he loathed all discipline, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P102"></a>102}</span> -and his incipient insubordination in 18 18 diminished -the success of Bolivar. His pride revolted against -all tutelage, even when this was just. At times he -wished Bolivar to be an absolute chieftain, an -invulnerable monarch; at other times he rebelled -against him. In 1819 he led the patriots of the -llanos to victory; he obtained power and honours -but was always notably insubordinate. In 1821 -he opposed the order of enrolment issued by -Santander, the Vice-President of Colombia. The -municipality of Caracas shared his desire for -autonomy, and Venezuela followed the leader who -represented the national instincts. Bolivar intervened -to enforce the unity of Colombia and gave way to -Paez. In 1826 the latter counselled the Liberator -to assume the crown. -</p> - -<p> -The fusion of the peoples, unity as against discord, -was the Bolivian ideal. At this time the spirit of -nationality was working obscurely, and spontaneous -republics were springing up. The race, exhausted -by its long tutelage, uneasily sought subdivision, -thinking thereby to gain autonomy; Paez, -profoundly American, followed the stream and exiled -Bolivar. He broke up the Colombian unity, as -Santander in New Granada and Flores in Ecuador, and -liberated his country in 1830. The nomad <i>guerrillero</i> -had then to organise the country, to give it stability -and continuity; his supple nature adapted itself to -his new duties. By instinct (writes an eminent -historian, Gil Fortoul) he inclined to play the part -of certain constitutional kings, leaving the -government to his ministers. Without denying his -democratic past, he frequented the society of the literate -and the oligarchs. His presidency (1831-1835) -resulted in domestic peace, strict order in matters -financial, political conciliation, and economic -progress. -</p> - -<p> -Dr. Vargas, an enemy of militarism, succeeded -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P103"></a>103}</span> -him, but the brothers José Tadeo and José Gregorio -Monagas, who had risen against Paez in 1831, -renewed their attempt in 1835. The weak, irresolute -President appointed Paez commander-in-chief of the -army, while the revolutionists of Caracas proclaimed -him supreme ruler. His immense moral force loomed -paternally above the squabbles of the parties; he -became the arbiter of Venezuelan quarrels. -</p> - -<p> -He upheld the constitution and the presidency of -Vargas, but the latter could not retain supreme power -and abandon the reins of government to the hands -of the vice-president. The chieftain of the plains -was elected for a second presidential period in 1838. -Militarism declined under his rule, foreign credit -increased, the payment of the debt was assured, -and orderly progress was effected. In 1843 his -loyal friend, General Carlos Soublette, a republican -of the antique mould, austere and liberal, was his -successor. Once more the omnipotence of Paez was -triumphant. -</p> - -<p> -The political tranquillity of these two periods -masked a social transformation. Venezuela was not -a democratic republic; it was, like Chili, ruled by -an oligarchy. The Constitution of 1830 conferred -the enjoyment of political rights only upon the -land-owners, property-owners, and government employés; -as in the southern nation the territorial overlords -ruled, and slavery persisted. The "doctors" -belonged to the dominant group. The oligarchs were -conservatives; they defended property, order, and -wealth against militarism and demagogy. They -recognised no State religion, nor did they practise -intolerance. -</p> - -<p> -In 1840 a liberal reaction set in against the -dictatorship of Paez and the conservative clan; -democratic institutions and "new men" were called for. -It was a struggle of classes and races. The obscure -mass—<i>pardos</i> (mulattos), mestizos, proletariats—subjected -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P104"></a>104}</span> -to slavery or servitude, oppressed by the -privileged, hybrid and anarchical—attacked the -established ruling caste. Thus political unrest was -complicated by social conflict. Antonio Leocadio -Guzman, a brilliant demagogue, comprehending the -liberal ambitions of the crowd, founded a popular -party upon the hatred of hierarchies and traditions. -A tribune and journalist, he violently attacked Paez, -Soublette, and their ministers; he offered the people -the abolition of slavery and the repartition of the -soil, with the violence of all the creators of -democracies, from Tiberius Gracchus to Lloyd George. -He was presidential candidate in 1846; Paez -supported General Tadeo Monagas, a gloomy personage -who represented the oligarchy. The supporters of -Guzman rebelled against the influence of Soublette -and the tutelage of the great <i>llanero</i>, and a -social revolution commenced under the mask of -a political quarrel. The Liberals wished to -overthrow the "Gothic oligarchy." Guzman was made -prisoner. He was judged as were the tribunes of -antiquity who terrified the patrician class by the -tumult of a hungry democracy. Condemned to death -as a conspirator and anarchist, he saw his punishment -commuted to banishment. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-104"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-104.jpg" alt="GENERAL JOSÉ TADEO MONAGAS. President of Venezuela (1846-1850 and 1855-1859)." /> -<br /> -GENERAL JOSÉ TADEO MONAGAS. <br /> -President of Venezuela (1846-1850 and 1855-1859). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -The conservatives had won; the evolution of -democracy was checked, thanks to the advent of -certain crude demagogues. As in Chili, a moderate -liberalism was germinating in the heart of the -conservative group itself. Until 1861 the oligarchical -constitution of 1830 was maintained, as in Chili -the analogous constitution of 1833 persisted, in all -its rigidity, until 1891. The liberals could hardly -be distinguished from the conservatives; the -democratic Guzman himself accepted slavery. There was -not, therefore, any violent war of castes, but rather -a slow infiltration of liberal principles in the -substance of the aristocratic class. The man of this -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P105"></a>105}</span> -period of transition was President Monagas. He -governed with liberals and conservatives, and -founded a personal system. The Congress wished -to impeach him, but the people defended him against -the Congress. The independent Assembly was -dissolved, amidst bloodshed and the bodies of the slain, -on the tragic 24th of January, 1848, and the -Executive was triumphant. The rule of oligarchies was -followed by personalism or autocracy. Monagas -struggled against Paez; these two predominant -influences could not co-exist. The old <i>caudillo</i> took -the head of a revolution; he was defeated, and, -like Guzman, exiled. Curious analogy between the -fate of the chieftain of the oligarchy and that of the -leader of the democrats! -</p> - -<p> -José Tadeo Monagas was replaced by his brother -José Gregorio. The pair formed a strange species -of dynasty in which inheritance was collateral. -Guzman having again lost the presidency, his -supporters and those of Paez rebelled against the -government in 1853 and 1854; but the government was -victorious, and in 1854 liberated the slaves. Better -than the apostrophes of the popular tribune this -radical measure prepared the way for the advent -of the democrats. After José Gregorio Monagas his -brother José Tadeo became President in 1855. A -new Constitution of 1857, centralistic in tendency, -permitted the re-election of presidents, and Monagas -remained in power. General Castro defeated him -at the head of a coalition of all parties. The old -political groups were reorganised; the struggles -between federalists and centralists recommenced; -and the decline of the oligarchies saw the advance -of democracy. The Convention of Valencia (1858) -promulgated a liberal constitution, which established -the autonomy of the provinces under governors and -congresses of their own; the electoral capacity, -restricted by the old statute, was enlarged; the jury -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P106"></a>106}</span> -system was established; and the Executive was -weakened, with an eye to the personalism of Monagas. -A civil war in which federals, liberals, centralists, -conservatives, constitutionalists, and ideologists were -mingled in motley assemblies disturbed the country. -The battles lacked the simplicity of the old -directorates, the rigidity of the old hierarchies. The -democracy lamentably increased; the liberal factions -were seized with an equalitarian frenzy. Their -leaders—Falcon, Zamora—were demagogues on horseback. -At the spectacle of this barbarism Paez, returning -in 1861 from the United States, restored reaction -and autocracy. On September 10th he proclaimed -himself supreme chief in the face of the federal -power; an octogenarian, he gathered all the powers -of the State into his trembling hand; a melancholy -symbol of the oligarchy, exhausted in its struggle -against the invading democracy. In vain did he -issue tyrannical decrees; he could not prevent the -triumph of federation. At Coche, Guzman-Blanco, -general of the federal forces, negotiated with Rojas, -the omnipotent secretary of Paez, an agreement which -put an end to the tottering dictatorship. The action -of the founder of Venezuela, "the man of the plains," -representing the conservative aristocracy, was over. -He died in 1873, when his work of a half-century -was about to be continued, under another form, by -the great <i>caudillo</i> Antonio Guzman-Blanco. -</p> - -<p> -He was the son of Antonio Leocadio Guzman, -leader of the liberal party. He had travelled in -the United States, was a diplomatist, and had -followed a course of study in the law, and on his -return to Venezuela had directed military operations -during the revolt against Paez. He had the gifts -of the military leader; he skilfully organised attack -and retreat in that difficult warfare of many factions -amidst the plains; he revealed himself as a heroic -leader of men, dashing and persevering. In 1862 -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P107"></a>107}</span> -he attained the rank of General-in-Chief of the Army. -The General Assembly elected him vice-president -of the Republic, under the presidency of Falcon, -after the agreement of Coche. Guzman-Blanco then -contracted a loan of one and a half million pounds -in London, where Venezuelan credit was ruined. It -was necessary to restore the public finances after -the long crisis of the revolution. The operation was -onerous, and the liberal leader was criticised. -However, the Venezuelan Congress awarded him a prize -in the form of an award of money. -</p> - -<p> -In 1865 and 1866, during the absences of President -Falcon, he exercised command with admirable -political tact, introducing severe financial economies, -regularising the debt, and suppressing sinecures and -pensions. In the political world, despite the triumph -of the federals, he demanded the reinforcement of -the central power, as against the anarchy of the -autonomous provinces. In fact, a new constitution, -extremely liberal, which was promulgated by the -Assembly in 1864, had conceded an excessive degree -of independence upon the provinces. -</p> - -<p> -A revolution overthrew the federal President, and -the conservative malcontents restored José Tadeo -Monagas. Anarchy continued, and Guzman-Blanco -intervened to repress partial revolts, to counsel -political tolerance, and to negotiate abroad the -unification of the public debt; he had inherited the moral -power from Paez. Monagas wished to draw him -into his party, and offered him the succession of the -presidency. The struggle increased in intensity; the -"Blues" of Monagas, as in Byzantium, defied the -"Yellows" of Guzman-Blanco. The civil war lasted -five years. The country seeking stability, even if it -involved autocracy, José Ruperto Monagas succeeded -to his father and the monarchical policy was -again attempted. The chief of the federals was the -enemy of the President, who exiled him, after a -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P108"></a>108}</span> -nocturnal attack upon his house, on the 14th of -August, 1869. -</p> - -<p> -Guzman arrived in Curaçoa, and in September -openly commenced to work for revolution. Monagas -was anxious to compromise, and willing to agree to -one of those conventions so frequent in Venezuelan -history; but the <i>caudillo</i> imposed hard conditions. -His father, the demagogue and tribune, accompanied -him as journalist. After indecisive battles the -Revolution triumphed in Caracas (April, 1870), and -Guzman-Blanco assumed the dictatorship. The -autocratic <i>régime</i> accepted neither conciliation with -the vanquished nor legal artifices; the figure of the -Imperator looms above the passive crowd, a defence -against federal disorganisation, economic waste, and -incessant anarchy. The liberal leader attacked his -adversaries energetically, directed battles, -performing prodigies of strategy at Valencia and Apure. -The "blues" recoiled, successively losing Valencia, -Trujillo, and Maracaibo. General Matias Salazar, -the seditious liberal chief, a friend of the dictator, was -shot. Like Porfirio Diaz, the Venezuelan autocrat -checkmated anarchy by decapitating its generals. -Exile, battles, and confiscation of goods prepared -the way for lasting peace. Two years the civil -war lasted, and in 1872 Guzman-Blanco, a beneficent -despot, commenced the material transformation -of the country. He knew men, he had the gift of -command; his decision was irresistible, his character -of steel. He reduced import duties, and abolished -export duties, founded a banking company which -issued bonds guaranteed by the Government, and -amortised the public debt. While introducing strict -economies he attacked his political enemies with -forced loans and special contributions. In the -political arena he unhesitatingly repressed the revolts -of the Blues and would grant them no amnesty; -he exiled the archbishop because he refused to -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P109"></a>109}</span> -celebrate the triumph of the liberal Revolution by a -<i>Te Deum</i>. The dictator was nationalist as against -foreign pressure and threats; he aspired to the -reconstitution of Venezuela, in matters domestic and -foreign, despite the anarchy of the factions and the -manoeuvres of European stockjobbers. Diplomatic -conflicts arose with the United States, Holland, -England, and the Papacy. -</p> - -<p> -Guzman-Blanco favoured education; he wished to -see "a school in every street." He reformed the civil -and penal codes, and established marriage and civil -registers. In 1873 he renounced the dictatorship -before Congress, but the latter elected him -President, and accorded him supreme honours. Statues -and streets and medals bore his name; he was -given the pompous titles of "Illustrious American" -and "Regenerator of Venezuela"; nothing could -be refused him by the servile and extravagant -deputies. His statue, erected in Caracas in 1875, -near that of Bolivar, glorified the Regenerator equally -with the Liberator. The popular dictator satisfied -the ambitions of all; he brought the peace desired -by the oligarchs, he was the idol of the crowds, and -he attacked the Church like the liberals and -free-masons. -</p> - -<p> -From 1870 to 1877 the Government fostered -material development by means of the construction -of railways and highways, public buildings in the -large towns, and the transformation and embellishment -of Caracas. It was said that the Dictator -wished to imitate Napoleon III. by opening up -promenades and avenues. Credit prospered, the -service of the debt was assured, the public revenues -increased, orderly and economical budgets were -established, and statistics organised. The President -reinforced and disciplined the army, and intervened in -the politics of the states, in defiance of federalism. -He endeavoured to found a Venezuelan Church, with -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P110"></a>110}</span> -a liberal archbishop and clergy elected by the -faithful; he suppressed religious congregations and -converted their goods into national property. His -autocracy did not respect the powers of the outer -world; he stimulated industries by a strict -protectionism. An admirer of French art, he established -museums in Venezuela. -</p> - -<p> -In 1877 General Alcantara succeeded him. -Guzman-Blanco stated in his message, reviewing his -seven years' work, that he left behind him peace, -administrative and political organisation, external -credit, liberty of the vote, and "the triumph of the -dignity and the rights of the Nation." He was -acclaimed to the verge of apotheosis. He left for -Europe, and in his absence the statues of the dictator -were overthrown and his decrees annulled by those -who had conferred such honours upon him. -Democracy, unstable and feminine, burned what she -had adored. Guzman-Blanco returned to Venezuela -in 1878, devoured with dictatorial ambitions. He -had sought in Paris to found a company which, like -the East Indian and African companies of England, -should transform his country. He longed for the -power he had abandoned to an ungrateful mob. Upon -his arrival a favouring revolution welcomed him, the -state of Carabobo proclaimed him Dictator, and ten -other states followed suit. The revolutionaries -triumphed, and those who had overthrown his statues -and reversed his statutes now praised him to the -skies. Guzman-Blanco proposed to reform the -Constitution; the Swiss federation was his political -model. He reduced the number of states in -Venezuela, and despoiled the Executive of many -attributes, which he confided to a Federal Council. The -Province approved the "Swiss" Constitution of -1882. -</p> - -<p> -The "Illustrious American" then returned to -France to realise a financial plan which was to -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P111"></a>111}</span> -transform his country, and to conclude a contract with -the great Jew bankers. He formed a privileged -company which was to exploit the country, obtain -concessions of land, and organise what financiers -call the <i>mise en valeur</i> of new territories. The -Constitution promulgated, Guzman-Blanco was elected -President of the General Council. In 1882 he -expounded to Congress the benefits of his autocracy: -material development, budgetary surpluses, extended -cultivation, and political stability. -</p> - -<p> -Until 1886 Guzman-Blanco was President of the -Venezuelan democracy, or its minister in European -capitals. His power was absolute; he imposed new -leaders, left the country, returned; he was the -Protector of the Republic. From the enchanted banks -of the Seine he directed the febrile development of -Venezuela. Like Porfirio Diaz in Mexico and Rosas -in the Argentine he conquered all other leaders, -imposed peace, organised and unified, and ruled by -terror or by sentiment. A <i>caudillo</i> without definite -political ideas, he loved power and his native country. -State, Church, parties, and national riches, all were -his; they were the domains of this feudal baron. -His enemies accused him of enriching himself at -the expense of the national property, but his work -in the material world was fruitful; he built roads, -erected buildings, and stimulated the development -of the national fortune. In matters of policy he -affirmed the inviolability of the country against -foreign aggression; he was a democrat as against -the conservatives. He loved pomp and triumph, -sumptuous external shows, sonorous phrases, and the -servile adoration of the crowd. -</p> - -<p> -He had an enormous faith in his own work. In -1883 he stated that Venezuela, under his authority, -"had undertaken an infinite voyage towards an -infinite future." His dictatorship appeared to him -as necessary, providential: "the people insist upon -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P112"></a>112}</span> -it so that we may be saved from anarchy." He aimed -at "the regeneration of the country"; and his was -the responsibility for this work; but the greatness -also was his. "I have never followed the thought -of any but myself," he said. Indeed, we may apply -to him the classic phrase descriptive of absolutism: -"<i>L'Etat c'est moi</i>."[<a id="chap0201fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0201fn1">1</a>] -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0201fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0201fn1text">1</a>] <i>En defensa del Septenio</i>, Paris, 1878, p. 29. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0202"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P113"></a>113}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II -<br /><br /> -PERU: GENERAL CASTILLA—MANUEL PARDO—PIEROLA -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The political work of General Castilla—Domestic peace—The -deposits of guano and saltpetre—Manuel Pardo, founder of -the anti-military party—The last <i>caudillo</i>, Pierola: his reforms. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The gestation of the Republic of Peru was a lengthy -process. The vice-kingdom defended itself against -Colombian, Peruvian, and Argentine troops: against -the armies of Bolivar and San Martin. Here the -<i>penates</i> of Spain were preserved: the treasure, the -vigilant aristocracy, the warlike armies. It was not -until 1824, when America was already independent, -that the victory of Ayacucho liberated Peru from -the Spanish rule. -</p> - -<p> -Bolivar wished to give Peru the same constitution -as Bolivia; to force the institution of the -irremovable President on the anarchy of these republics; -but the municipality of Lima refused the project. -The Peruvians exalted the Liberator; "hero" and -"demi-god" the poets called him; his praise was -sung in the churches; the Congress granted him -riches and honours. His generals were struggling -for the supreme command. The Colombian hero -returned to his own country, and at once President -followed President and revolution revolution. The -history of the first twenty years of the Republic, as -in Mexico and the Argentine, records only the clash -of the forces of society organised and disciplined -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P114"></a>114}</span> -by the colonial <i>régime</i>. Generals and "doctors," -autocracy and anarchy, the oligarchy of the -vice-kingdom and the advancing democracy, all were at -war among themselves. Byzantine factions struggled -to attain the supreme power in the assemblies -and the barracks. Aristocratic Presidents—Riva -Aguero, Orbegoso, Vivanco, and military Presidents—La -Mar, La Fuente, Gamarra, followed one another -with bewildering rapidity. In the south Arequipa, -the home of a tenacious race, engendered terrible -revolts. External wars, such as that with Colombia -in 1827 and Bolivia in 1828 and 1835 (to repulse -the protectorate of Santa-Cruz), were really due to -the quarrels of ambitious generals who were disputing -the succession of Bolivar. New nations, whose -frontiers as yet were vague, had not yet acquired a -national consciousness. Santa-Cruz, President of -Bolivia, unified Peru, founding a confederation, from -Tumez to Tarija, necessary to the equilibrium of -American politics; but he was a foreign President. -Amid the host of provincial chiefs a general presently -arose who for twenty years was the energetic director -of the nation's life—Don Ramon Castilla. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-114"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-114.jpg" alt="GENERAL ANDRES SANTA CRUZ. President of Bolivia (1829-1839)." /> -<br /> -GENERAL ANDRES SANTA CRUZ. <br /> -President of Bolivia (1829-1839). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -He recalls Paez rather than Rosas. He was no -invulnerable tyrant, but a <i>caudillo</i> of great influence. -Born in Tarapaca in 1796, he was a mestizo, having -in his veins the blood of an Indian grandmother. -This origin perhaps explains his endurance and -astuteness. His father was Asturian, a member of a -warlike race. Castilla passed his youth at Tarapaca, -in a region of vast plains and narrow valleys, and -the desert made him a nomad, a chief of legionaries. -A Spanish soldier in Chili, he was made prisoner -at Chacabuco; set at liberty, he travelled through -the Argentine and Brazil, and on his return to Peru -he offered his services to San Martin; in 1821 he -fought beside Sucre at Ayacucho, followed General -Gamarra against Bolivia, and retaken prisoner at -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P115"></a>115}</span> -Ingavi, he finally became general, then marshal. -Short, with virile features and a penetrating glance, he -was a great leader, strong and tenacious in the field. -His bearing was martial; men felt that opposition -irritated him, that he was an autocrat by vocation. -Without much culture, he was astute enough to seem -learned. He intuitively knew the value of men and -the manner in which to govern them. His strong -point was the gift of command. Experience made him -sceptical and ironical; his speech was stern and -incisive. His ideas were simple; a conservative -in politics, he respected the principle of authority. -Like San Martin, to whom he wrote some suggestive -letters, he hated anarchy. In the midst of the tumult -of revolution he understood the necessity of a strong -government. He defeated the dictator Vivanco, in -skirmishes and pitched battles, at Carmen-Alto, and -became President of Peru in 1845. He granted an -amnesty to the vanquished and re-established order. -His government marked the commencement, after -twenty years of revolutions, of a new period of -administrative stability, during which commerce -developed and the public revenues increased; new -sources of wealth, namely, guano and saltpetre, -transformed the economic life of the country. The -telegraph united Lima to Callao in 1847; the first -Peruvian railroad was inaugurated in 1851. The -service of the external debt due to foreign loans -commenced, and the internal debt was consolidated. -The first presidency of General Castilla resulted in -peace and economic progress. -</p> - -<p> -General Echenique succeeded him, and financial -scandals, guano concessions, speculations, and a -corrupt thirst for wealth engendered discontent. The -prophecy of Bolivar was accomplished: gold had -corrupted Peru. Castilla hesitated before revolting -against a constitutional government. A lover of -order, he respected authority in others and in -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P116"></a>116}</span> -himself. But finally a fresh revolution broke out, and -triumphed at La Palma in 1855. In the same year -Congress elected Castilla as President. -</p> - -<p> -In the preceding year the general-President had -already proclaimed the emancipation of the negro -slaves, in order to ensure that the revolution which -he now headed should be welcome. Congress declared -the personal tribute demanded of the Indians -abolished. A new constitution, the basis of that of -1860, which is still in force in Peru, changed the -political organism in several essential aspects. It -suppressed the Council of State and replaced it by -two vice-presidents; it organised the municipalities, -and set a term of four years on the duration of the -presidency. Vivanco rose against Castilla in 1857, -but was defeated. The government of General -Castilla terminated peacefully: from 1844 to 1860 -he directed the national policies with a hand of iron. -None before him had been able to give the life of -the nation such continuity. All the moral and -economic forces of the country were developed; the -exports attained to three millions sterling, which sum -was in excess of the imports; railways and telegraph -lines crossed the wilderness, and the credit of the -country permitted of new and important loans. Peru, -conscious of her progressive energy, aspired to extend -her domains. Castilla declared war upon Ecuador -in 1859, the pretext being a question of frontiers; -as victor he granted generous terms of peace. He -built ships to oppose the future maritime supremacy -of Chili; then, divining the importance of Eastern -Peru, he sent out expeditions to explore the great -unknown watercourses. Like Garcia-Moreno in -Ecuador and Portales in Chili, he established peace, -stimulated wealth, promoted education, created a -navy, and imposed a new constitution on the country. -His action was not only political but social; by -freeing the slaves and Indians he prepared the future -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P117"></a>117}</span> -of democracy. The journals of the period condemned -his absolutism. "The formula of the General is -'<i>L'Etat c'est moi</i>,'" wrote Don José Casimiro-Ulloa -in 1862. For fifteen years he was the dictator -necessary to an unstable republic. -</p> - -<p> -After him the national life was personified by a -civil President, Manuel Pardo, who represented the -reaction of lawyers and business men against the -militarism of Castilla and his predecessors. He did -not govern for two terms, like the autocratic General, -nor did his personal influence last ten years; yet -his reputation increased after his death, so that his -name, like that of Balmaceda in Chili, presides over -the fortunes of a party. -</p> - -<p> -Pardo was born in Lima in 1834. He was the -son of a poet, Don Felipe Pardo; but he soon -abandoned dreams for action; to him material -interest seemed superior to all other questions. -</p> - -<p> -He detested "pure politics"; he regarded the -Constitution as a "dead letter in national life." His -vocation impelled him to protect the financial affairs -of the country; he was Minister of Finance from -1866 to 1868, fiscal agent in London, and founded -a bank in Lima. His best address deals with the -subject of taxation. As President he decreed a -monopoly of saltpetre in 1875, an economic measure -often criticised as having provoked the disastrous -war with Chili. -</p> - -<p> -An economist and champion of order, he continued -the work of Castilla, was triumphant over revolution, -and organised the country. -</p> - -<p> -In 1862, when he had already been minister and -mayor of Lima, a popular election carried him to -power. In four years his extraordinary activity -reformed all the public services: education, finance, -and immigration. He ordered the census to be taken -in 1876; he endeavoured to attract foreigners; -founded the Faculty of Political Sciences and the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P118"></a>118}</span> -University of Lima for the education of diplomatists -and administrators, and the School of Arts and Crafts -for the improvement of popular education; he -opened new primary schools, sent for German and -Polish professors, and entrusted the pedagogic -direction of the country to them. He promulgated -new regulations dealing with education on the classic -European lines. He re-established the National -Guard, as Portales had done in Chili, and organised -departmental <i>juntas</i> with an eye to decentralisation. -His action was restless and universal. He preferred -a positive policy, devoid of doctrinaire quarrels, -dreamed of a practical republic, like Rafael Nuñez -in Colombia and Guzman-Blanco in Venezuela, and -preferred the faculty of political sciences, which -formed administrators, to that of letters, which -created literary men and philosophers. -</p> - -<p> -Nevertheless, the country became bankrupt. -Loans, the great undertakings of President Balta, -and speculations in guano and saltpetre had exhausted -it. Pardo could not prevent this financial disaster. -He assured the service of the foreign debt and -informed the democracy, intoxicated by the economic -orgy, that it was ruined. He vainly sought the -alliance of the Argentine and Bolivia in order to erect -a triple bastion of defence against the ambitions of -Chili. His efforts were fruitless, both at home and -abroad. He was succeeded by a military President. -The alliance of Peru and Bolivia was powerless -against the might of Chili, and Pardo himself was -assassinated during a supreme reaction of the -demagogy which he hoped to rule. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-118"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-118.jpg" alt="MANUEL PARDO. President of Peru (1872-1876)." /> -<br /> -MANUEL PARDO. <br /> -President of Peru (1872-1876). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -Death made his influence lasting, as was the case -with Garcia-Moreno and Balmaceda. A strong ruler -of men, he had gathered about him enthusiastic and -even fanatical partisans. His work of reformation -became the evangel of a party, the civil party which -he had founded. As early as 1841 the dictator -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P119"></a>119}</span> -Vivanco had united, in a conservative group, the -leading men of the time: Pando, Andres Martinez, -Felipe Pardo. Ureta, Pardo's rival in the presidential -campaign, united the first elements of a civil party. -But it was his rival who concentrated all these forces, -making them lasting and harmonious. A scion of -ancient families, of the Aliagas and Lavalles, Pardo -represented the colonial traditions in a disordered -democracy. -</p> - -<p> -Thanks to the discovery of new sources of wealth -—saltpetre and guano—and to fiscal monopolies, a -powerful plutocracy suddenly arose in Peru, which -was soon, by the prestige of its wealth, to overpower -the old Peruvian families. Pardo, not opposing the -national transformation, joined this plutocracy; and -his party, reinforced by the alliance, became the -obstinate champion of property, of slow reform, and -of order, against the anarchy of the Creoles. It -was conservative without rigidity, liberal without -violence, like the moderate parties of monarchical -governments, or the Progressists of the third French -Republic. Originally an aristocratic power, it -abandoned its old severity, and became the party of -the wealthy classes, taking mulattos and mestizos to -its bosom. So, as in other South American -democracies, the ancient oligarchy was replaced by -a plutocracy which included the sons of immigrants, -half-breeds, and bankers. -</p> - -<p> -The influence of Pardo was greater and more -lasting than that of Castilla. It responded to many -of the needs of Peru; placed between militarism -and demagogy, the civil element was the only agent -of order and progress. The work of Pardo, -interrupted during the war with Chili (1879-84) and the -period of anarchy which followed, despite the efforts -of a military leader who had fought like a hero in -the war against Chili—Colonel Caceres—was by the -irony of human affairs continued by the sworn enemy -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P120"></a>120}</span> -of Pardo: Pierola, the last of the great Peruvian -<i>caudillos</i>; restless, romantic, and always ready to -seize the reins of power by the violent aid of -revolution. -</p> - -<p> -In 1869, at the age of thirty, he was Minister of -Finance, following Garcia Calderon, who had -resigned his post rather than authorise the waste of -fiscal resources. Ten years later Pierola proclaimed -himself dictator, and prepared, with unusual energy, -to defend Peru against the invasion of Chili. A -reformer after the methods of the Jacobins, he -thought to transform the nation by heaping decree -upon decree and by changing the names of institutions. -His noble enthusiasm makes it easy to overlook -his errors. -</p> - -<p> -The Peruvian troops defeated, Pierola did not -resign power, and divided the country. Ten years -later, in the full maturity of his intellectual powers, -he was elected President (1895-99); from which -period we may date the Peruvian renaissance. -Without raising loans he transformed an exhausted -country into a stable republic. Like all the great -American <i>caudillos</i>, he was an excellent administrator -of the fiscal wealth of the country; he established a -gold standard as the basis of the new monetary -system, promulgated a military code and an electoral -law, and by means of a French mission endeavoured -to change an army which was the docile servant of -ambitious factions into a force capable of -preserving domestic peace. His organising talent, his -patriotism, and his extraordinary ability, surprised -those who had known only the revolutionary leader. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-120"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-120.jpg" alt="DON NICOLAS DE PIEROLA. President of Peru (1895-1899)." /> -<br /> -DON NICOLAS DE PIEROLA. <br /> -President of Peru (1895-1899). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -He founded a democratic party, as did Pardo a -party inimical to militarism. But in spite of the -denomination of this party it has lent its aid to the -military leaders, and no law in favour of the workers -has emanated from the democrats. Pierola, who -called himself "the protector of the native race," -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P121"></a>121}</span> -established a tax upon salt, which was a great -hardship to that poverty-stricken race. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-121"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-121.jpg" alt="DON FRANCISCO GARCIA CALDERON. President of Peru (1881-1884)." /> -<br /> -DON FRANCISCO GARCIA CALDERON. <br /> -President of Peru (1881-1884). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -The leader of the democrats is himself an -aristocrat; not only by origin, by the somewhat -old-fashioned elegance of his style, and by his patrician -tastes; he has always preferred to surround himself -with men of the old noble families: the Orbegosos, -Gonzalez, Osmas, Ortiz de Zevallos, &c. This -contrast between his tastes and tendencies and the -party which he founded does not detract from the -great popularity which the old ex-president enjoys in -Peru; he is popular by reason of qualities which are -wholly personal, like those of Manuel Pardo, and his -supporters become fanatics. His mannered phrases, -his heroism and his audacity, have a religious -significance in the eyes of his believers; like Facundo in -the epic of Sarmiento, he is the nomadic khalif who -brings to a democracy in the throes of anarchy the -promise of a divine message. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0203"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P122"></a>122}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III -<br /><br /> -BOLIVIA: SANTA-CRUZ -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Santa-Cruz and the Confederation of Peru and Bolivia—The tyrants, -Belzu, Molgarejo—The last <i>caudillos</i>: Pando, Montes. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Bolivia sprang, armed and full-grown, as in the -classic myth, from the brain of Bolivar. The -Liberator gave her a name, a Constitution, and a -President. In 1825 he created by decree an -autonomous republic in the colonial territory of the -district of Charcas, and became its Protector. Sucre, -the hero of Ayacucho, succeeded him in 1826. -During the wars of Independence this noble friend -of Bolivar resigned from power, disillusioned; he -was the Patroclus of the American Iliad. -</p> - -<p> -From that time onward the young republic was -for twenty years ruled by a great <i>caudillo</i>, Andres -Santa-Cruz. A lieutenant of the Liberator, he -inherited, like Paez and Flores, a portion of his legacy -of nations: he was President of Bolivia and wished -to be President of Peru. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-122"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-122.jpg" alt="OPENING OF CONGRESS, LA PAZ, BOLIVIA. (From "Latin America, the Land of Opportunity," by the Hon. John Barrett.)" /> -<br /> -OPENING OF CONGRESS, LA PAZ, BOLIVIA. <br /> -(From "Latin America, the Land of Opportunity," <br /> -by the Hon. John Barrett.) -</p> - -<p> -In 1826 he presided over the Council of State -at Lima and governed in the absence of Bolivar. -In 1827 he was the head of the Bolivian Republic, -prosecuting a difficult struggle against national -anarchy. His ambition included the vast theatre of -the old vice-kingdom; he wished to unite Bolivia -and Peru, and to that end organised freemasonry -as a political force, from La Paz to Lima. President -of the Bolivian Republic for the second time -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P123"></a>123}</span> -in 1828, he formed a government sufficiently strong -to discourage revolution. Like Garcia-Moreno and -Guzman-Blanco, he was a civilizer. The son of an -Indian woman of noble origin, the <i>Cacica</i> of Guarina, -he perhaps inherited imperial ambitions. He loved -power and display, received the order of the Legion -of Honour from Louis-Philippe, and instituted an -analogous order for the Bolivian Confederation. He -accumulated sonorous titles: Captain-General and -President of Bolivia, Grand Marshal, Pacificator of -Peru, Supreme Protector of the South and North -Peruvians, &c. In domestic politics he was an -organiser who was capable of cruelty in defence of -order; a strict administrator. He promulgated -codes, following the Napoleonic example, disciplined -the army, and restored the national finances. The -revenue increased, credit became more secure, and -imperialism saw the light. Santa-Cruz attracted -Europeans and protected his countrymen, for the -question of population preoccupied him; it is, indeed, -the great problem of Bolivia and South America. -In 1833 he proposed the exclusion of celibates from -the magistracy, a measure of protection in favour -of numerous families. Like all the <i>caudillos</i>, he -made great efforts to develop the public treasury. -</p> - -<p> -Local triumphs did not satisfy him. Distrustful, -crafty, frigid, without the declamatory eloquence of -other presidents, ambitious of wealth and power, he -longed to extend his despotic sceptre over new -States. Imitating Napoleon, like Iturbide in Mexico, -and remembering the successes of the First Consul, -he prepared expeditions of conquest, and fostered -anarchy in Peru, which he intended to govern once -more as in 1826. Orbegoso, President of the -neighbouring republic, called for his assistance in 1835 -in order to overcome Salaverry, a brilliant officer who -had proclaimed himself dictator. Santa-Cruz thereupon -constituted himself the arbiter of Peruvian -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P124"></a>124}</span> -disputes, and invaded the country. He defeated -Salaverry at Socabaya and Gamarra, his ally, at -Yanacocha. The dictator was shot in 1836, and -the Bolivian president founded a vast confederation -as a bulwark against Peruvian anarchy: he -reconstituted the old vice-kingdom. His ambition then -led him so far as to attack Rosas, the tyrant of -Argentina. He had inherited the Unitarian ideals of -Bolivar, and prepared to realise them. Three States, -Bolivia, and North and South Peru, each with its -own capital, its president, and its congress, formed -the Confederation, under the imperial authority of -the new Inca. Santa-Cruz organised the three States -with amazing rapidity, imposed codes and constitutions, -and expected to rule from Lima, the fashionable -metropolis; it was said that he was the avenger of -the oppressed race of half-breeds, oppressed by the -colonial oligarchy. The Confederation existed from -1837, but Chili, in the south, envious of the -Peruvian-Bolivian hegemony, threatened its existence. -Portales, that omnipotent minister, sought pretexts -to attack this solid political structure. He accused -Santa-Cruz of fostering expeditions against the -Chilian conservatives—for instance, that of Freire—and -called him "the unjust violator of the sovereignty -of Peru"; he feared that his power would strike -a blow at the independence of the South American -republics. Portales and Santa-Cruz represented two -irreconcilable ambitions; they had the same love -of authority and organic construction, and each -professed a narrow nationalism and a violent patriotism. -The Chilian oligarchy, led by Portales, proceeded -to organise the "liberation campaign" against and -on behalf of Peru. The historian Walker Martinez -justifies this policy of interference and intervention -in American affairs, although since the Pacific war -the Chilian diplomatists have always pronounced -against it. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P125"></a>125}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Two successive expeditions were directed against -the coast of Peru. Santa-Cruz defeated the first, -which was led by the Chilian general Blanco -Encalada, in 1837. General Bulnes was the leader -of another "army of liberation." Peruvian generals -supported him: Gamarra, La Fuente, Castilla, and -Orbegoso himself. The battle of Yungai, in 1838, -put an end to the Confederation, and Santa-Cruz lost -all power over the peoples of Bolivia and Peru. -</p> - -<p> -His political work, the Confederation, tended to -unite two peoples which Bolivar had separated in -spite of colonial traditions; it organised, on the -shores of the Pacific, a stable power to oppose the -increasing imperialism of Chili. Eminent Peruvians -seconded the unifying efforts of the Bolivian leader: -Riva-Aguero, Orbegoso, Garcia del Rio, and -Necochea. -</p> - -<p> -His work shattered, Santa-Cruz retired to Europe -in 1845, but attempted, when urged by excited -supporters, to return to his own country. Chili and -Peru both opposed the suggestion. He was a friend -of Napoleon III. in Paris, where he several times -represented Bolivia, and where he died in 1865. -The Confederation which he vainly desired to found -would have changed the destiny of the peoples of -the Pacific, by giving the political supremacy to -Bolivia and Peru united. The successors of -Santa-Cruz in the Bolivian presidency, Ballivian and -Velasco, were friends of his, and continued his -ambitious policy, although they had revolted against -his autocracy. Since the days of the great mestizo -leader no ruler has attained an equal reputation, nor -attempted so great a political mission. Of later -presidents, Baptista and Arce, civilians, and Pando -and Montes, soldiers, exercised a real influence on -Bolivian history, but had not the importance of the -first presidents. The last was a remarkable organiser -and a builder of railways which saved his country -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P126"></a>126}</span> -from a dangerous isolation. They belonged to a -prosaic age of steady economic development. Bolivia -has also had its tyrants, figures of tragi-comedy, -vulgar and gloomy: Belzu, Velasco, Daza, and -finally Melgarejo, the bloody incarnation of Creole -barbarity. He was the Nero of Bolivia; a man -capable of every cruelty and every licence; daring, -energetic, he inaugurated a reign of terror, -surrounded himself with a prætorian guard, and -represented the instincts of the mob, exacerbated by -alcohol and envy. In vain did well-meaning dictators -like Ballivian in 1841 or Linares in 1857 strive to -continue, in the interval between two episodes -of barbarism, the civilising task of Santa-Cruz. They -dreamed of founding a <i>Republique Almara</i>, like -Renan in the domains of Caliban, a tyranny of -the intellectual elements. Their effort was fruitless. -Down to 1899, the year in which President Pando -inaugurated civil government, the history of Bolivia -was a dreary succession of revolutions and tyrants. -A remarkable writer who has studied his "sick -people"[<a id="chap0203fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0203fn1">1</a>] writes that "from 1825 to 1898 more -than sixty revolutions broke out, and a series of -international wars, and six Presidents were -assassinated: Blanco, Belzu, Cordova, Morales, Melgarejo, -and Daza, without counting those that died in exile." -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-126"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-126.jpg" alt="COLONEL ISMAEL MONTES. President of Bolivia (1905-1909)." /> -<br /> -COLONEL ISMAEL MONTES. <br /> -President of Bolivia (1905-1909). <br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0203fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0203fn1text">1</a>] <i>Pueblo enfermo</i>, by A. Arguedas, Barcelona, 1906. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0204"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P127"></a>127}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER IV, -<br /><br /> -URUGUAY: LAVALLEJA—RIVERA—THE NEW <i>CAUDILLOS</i> -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The factions: Reds and Whites—The leaders: Artigas, Lavalleja, -Rivera—The modern period. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -A small southern republic, situated between an -Imperialist state, Brazil, and a nation ambitious of -hegemony, the Argentine, Uruguay, "the Eastern -Province" (Banda Oriental) has struggled for its -liberty since the commencement of the nineteenth -century. Artigas represented the principle of -nationality in the long wars against Buenos-Ayres -and the Spanish armies: he was the first <i>caudillo</i>, -the forerunner of the Independence. Rivera and -Lavalleja inherited his unconquerable patriotism, and -proclaimed the independence of their country. In -1822, without the constant aid of armies of liberation, -such as those of San Martin and Bolivar, but -by the heroic efforts of its own soldiers, the ancient -province of the vice-kingdom of La Plata constituted -itself a new State, governed by a Unitarian constitution. -</p> - -<p> -Artigas had fought for the liberty of the province -of Uruguay, for its freedom from all tutelage. Rivera -and Lavalleja were willing to compromise at the -commencement of the new campaign of liberation. -A Congress held at Montevideo proclaimed the -incorporation of the Eastern Province with Portugal. -The two <i>caudillos</i> desired the union of Uruguay with -Brazil. Another leader, Manuel Oribe, was anxious -for the protection of the legions of the Argentine -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P128"></a>128}</span> -to conquer the independence of his country. An -ambassador from Buenos-Ayres, Don Valentin Gomez, -proposed to Brazil in 1825 that the rebellious -Uruguay should once more become a province of -the Argentine, but the Empire refused to consent. -Lavalleja, who had sought for Brazilian protection, -changed his mind; he sought for Argentine assistance, -whether that of the capital or that of the federal -leaders, while Rivera remained faithful to his original -programme of union with Southern Brazil. A piece -of heroism worthy of the Spanish <i>conquistadors</i> set -a term to this indecision. Lavalleja, at the head of -the "Thirty-Three," a little band of heroes -comparable to the legendary companions of Pizarro and -Cortes, landed on the Uruguayan coast on the 19th -of April, 1825. "Liberty or death" was their -watchword. Rivera joined them, and the struggle -for the independence of the eastern province at once -gained an intenser significance. At Florida a -provisional government was installed, which decreed -separation from Brazil and Portugal, proclaimed the -sovereignty of the nation, and decided upon union, -under a federal organisation, with the Argentine -provinces. "Eastern Argentines," Lavalleja called -his compatriots. The rulers of the Argentine did -not decide upon supporting the liberators of Uruguay. -With Brazil hostile, and abandoned by Buenos-Ayres, -the indomitable "Orientals" commenced a -bitter warfare which ended in their winning their -independence. Rivera defeated the Brazilian general -Abreu at Rincon-de-Haeda, then at Sarandu, a -decisive battle which Zorrilla de San Martin compares -to Chacabuco. The Argentines maintained their -neutrality, but the Congress of 1825, obedient to the -suggestions of Rivadavia, declared to Brazil that it -recognised the incorporation of the Eastern Province -"which has by its own efforts restored the liberty -of its territory." War broke out against Brazil; -Buenos-Ayres and Rio de Janeiro both aspired to -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P129"></a>129}</span> -rule in Montevideo. The conflict lasted from 1826 -to 1828; Argentines and Uruguayans took part in -it, fighting side by side. The campaign was directed -by Lavalleja and General Alvear, who in Buenos-Ayres -had been a fashionable dictator. Rivera withdrew -from the army. Brazil suffered a defeat at -Itazango, where 3,000 "Orientals" and 4,000 -Argentines fought against 9,000 Brazilian soldiers. -All things pointed to the fact that Uruguay would -soon be an independent nation. The "Orientals" -no longer admitted the hegemony of Brazil, nor the -tutelage of Argentina; they decided to pursue the -struggle without the help of Buenos-Ayres. The war -would be longer, but even more certain in its results. -Lavalleja replaced Alvear in the government. -Rivera, who had landed at Soriano, fought and won -at Misiones (1828), and continued unaided the -campaign against Artigas. He distrusted Buenos-Ayres -and even Lavalleja himself, and, thanks to his -continued efforts, peace with Brazil was finally signed -on the 27th of August, 1838. The Empire recognised -the independence of the "Province of Montevideo" -and the constitution of a "sovereign State," a -necessary factor in the political equilibrium of La Plata. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-128"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-128.jpg" alt="JUAN ANTONIO LAVALLEJA. Caudillo of Uruguay in the struggle for independence." /> -<br /> -JUAN ANTONIO LAVALLEJA. <br /> -<i>Caudillo</i> of Uruguay in the struggle for independence. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -Seven years later, under the tyranny of Rosas, -Uruguay saw her autonomy menaced. The Argentine -dictator aspired to conquer the little republic -and to rule as the Spanish viceroys had ruled in all -the provinces of La Plata, from Tarija to Montevideo. -The "Oriental" President Oribe, elected in 1825, -was the ally of Rosas against the Argentine refugees -in Montevideo, who were supported by Rivera. -Uruguayans and Argentines were confounded in the -two parties, but Rivera represented a new source of -conflict, as in his quarrels with Lavalleja, the -unconquerable spirit of nationality. Defeated in 1837, -he continued, upon Brazilian territory, an obstinate -warfare against Oribe. He defeated him, and was -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P130"></a>130}</span> -proclaimed President of Uruguay. Oribe then figured -in the Argentine army, as a general of Rosas. -</p> - -<p> -At this stage the conflict between Unitarians and -federals around Montevideo acquired a transcendental -significance. Brazil intervened once more in the -affairs of La Plata. Impregnable as Paraguay under -Lopez, the Eastern Province continued the war -against Oribe, its ex-president, and against the legions -of the Argentine tyrant. A noble crusader in the -cause of liberty, Garibaldi, at the head of the -Uruguayan squadron which defended Montevideo, gave -the struggle a romantic character. Oribe, a genius -of destruction, ravaged the country, and besieged -Montevideo by land in 1843. Foreigners: French, -Italians, Turks, and natives, defended the threatened -city. England, France, and Brazil at first offered -their mediation, which was refused by Oribe; they -then sent squadrons to defend the autonomy of -Uruguay and to insure the free navigation of the -River Parana in the interests of European commerce. -After a long war of heroic conflicts Urquiza, the -leader of the armies in alliance against the autocracy -of Rosas, put Oribe to flight (1861) and saved -Montevideo from the Argentine peril. -</p> - -<p> -Lavalleja and Rivera, the great <i>caudillos</i> in the -struggle for liberty, were rival claimants for power -and moral influence. Rivera, like Artigas, represented -an aggressive patriotism, hostile to all outside -influence; his ideal was national integrity. Generous, -anarchical, of the native type, he was more liberal -and more of a democrat than Lavalleja; he defended -all liberties—liberty of conscience, of industry, of the -press. A nomadic <i>gaucho</i>, he organised and led -guerilla forces through a campaign of incessant -skirmishes. Lavalleja, imperfectly educated, rude, -authoritative, half a Spaniard in his pride and his -colonial methods, was the leader of the aristocratic -and cultivated classes. More conservative and more -politic than Rivera, he opposed the rural democracy, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P131"></a>131}</span> -and desired an orderly independence, a disciplined -liberty; in government he was a tyrant. He -alienated the supporters of Rivera, dissolved the -Chamber of Representatives, reformed the administration -of justice, and estranged the authorities of -the departments. Rivera, President from 1830 to -1834 and from 1838 to 1843, was—like the majority -of the American <i>caudillos</i>—a zealous protector of -commerce and industry. The national revenues -mounted by 27 per cent.; imports and exports -increased; the population was doubled, and schools -and libraries were founded. Rivera exterminated the -Charrua Indians, who pillaged in town and country, -fostered the stock-raising industry, and, in his -democratic enthusiasm, prohibited the slave trade in 1839 -and freed the slaves in 1842. -</p> - -<p> -In the rivalry of these leaders we may already -perceive the elements of future civil struggles. Two -political parties, the Whites and the Reds, struggled -for power, as in other American republics; their -disputes, which were long and violent, revealed an -antagonism more profound than any simple conflict -of political opinions. Uruguay, like Venezuela and -Peru, is a country of <i>caudillos</i>, but all her leaders, -from Rivera to Battle Ordonez, have effected not -merely works of material progress, but also religious -and moral reforms, which explains the violent mutual -hatred of the Reds and Whites. In matters of local -import, or of national convictions and traditions, there -is a clash of formidable instincts, and the political -problem becomes simplified. Two great groups, one -conservative and the other liberal, both represented -by tenacious leaders, disputed the supreme power -in the government and in parliament. The Whites -were partisans of absolutism, nationalists and -catholics, and intolerant towards foreign cults; and -the old Spanish aristocracy, the clergy, the -"doctors"—all those, in short, who would constitute an -intellectual oligarchy—sympathised with this authoritative -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P132"></a>132}</span> -and traditionalist party. The Reds called their -adversaries cut-throats (for in the name of reasons -of State and of order they had no respect for human -life), reproached them with opposing due liberties -(they did condemn what they considered excessive -liberties) and were liberals and enemies of the -Church. The country districts and the cabins -supported them; they were the popular party. The -Whites called them "the Savages." Although very -old families figured in both clans, the new social -classes, the mestizos and children of foreigners -inclined rather to the Reds, while the Whites included -the proprietors of the <i>latifundia</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Lavalleja died in 1853, Rivera in 1854. After -the death of the two leaders a barbarous warfare -continued between the two parties, which represented -tradition and democracy. In vain did certain of the -Presidents—Garro, Flores, and Berro—attempt to -realise the unity of Uruguay and to form a national -party. The conflict still continued, for the -groups were swayed by an inevitable antagonism: -the conservative oligarchy and the half-breed -democracy are opposed in Uruguay as in Mexico -and Venezuela. The old families, <i>beati possidentes</i>, -defended "<i>la grande proprieté</i>" against the -foreigners and mestizos. -</p> - -<p> -With the triumph of Flores (1865) the Whites lost -their political supremacy, and the liberal party -regained its old position. Flores protected commerce, -rebuilt the cities destroyed by so many wars, and built -railways; his dictatorship terminated in 1868. The -leader of the Reds returned to the Presidency from -1875 to 1876, and his party established itself more -firmly. Despite fresh revolutions, it did not yield -up the government, and effected great social reforms. -Another <i>caudillo</i>, the present President, Don José -Battle y Ordoñez, is, by virtue of his liberal creed, -his influence, and the daring of his political -programme, an eminent personage amidst the sordid -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P133"></a>133}</span> -quarrels which divide the populations of America; -he has inherited the authority of Rivera, Flores, and -Lorenzo Battle. -</p> - -<p> -The modern Uruguay is born of the struggle -between the two traditional parties: a small nation -with an intense commercial vitality, like Belgium and -Switzerland. A harmonious republic, it has not -overlooked, in its material conquests, the suggestion of -Ariel. An admirable master, José Enrique Rodo, -has established a chair of idealism at Montevideo. -Immigration, a surplus[<a id="chap0204fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0204fn1">1</a>] in the budgets, a strict -service of the internal debt, an increasing -population—in short, all the aspects of economic -progress—go hand in hand with the spread of education, the -abundance of schools, the importance of journalism, -and the moral vigour of a younger generation, which -is ambitious for its country, and anxious that Uruguay -shall play a noble part upon the American stage. -The most advanced laws—divorce, suppression of the -death penalty, a code protecting workers, separation -of Church and State—give the development of -Uruguayan civilisation a markedly liberal aspect. -Miscegenation decreased after the destruction of the -Charruas, and the race is more homogeneous and -keenly patriotic. The enthusiasm of the Uruguayans -has baptized Montevideo in the name of New Troy, -for the possession of this impregnable city was, in -the <i>Iliad</i> of America, the ambition of every -conqueror: it was the refuge of the pilgrims of liberty, -of ambitious foreigners, of Argentine Unitarians, and -of a romantic soldier, Garibaldi. When the peoples of -America, weary of civil discord, wish to unify -their laws and glorify the heroism of their past -conflicts, they proceed to Montevideo, as to The Hague -or Washington, in periodical Peace Congresses. In -a continent divided by fatal ambitions, the capital -of Uruguay preserves the tradition of Americanism. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0204fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0204fn1text">1</a>] This surplus amounted to eight millions of piastres between -1906 and 1910. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0205"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P134"></a>134}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER V -<br /><br /> -THE ARGENTINE: RIVADAVIA—QUIROGA—ROSAS -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Anarchy in 1820—The <i>caudillos</i>: their part in the formation of -nationality—A Girondist, Rivadavia—The despotism of -Rosas—Its duration and its essential aspects. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The Argentine passed through a crisis, a time of -anarchy, like the other American nations. But the -struggle between autocracy and revolution assumed -epic proportions in the vast arena of the pampa. -It was the clash of organic forces. Tradition, -geography, and race gave it a rare intensity. The -provinces fought against the capital, the coast against -the sierra, the <i>gauchos</i> against the men of the -seaboard, and the various parties represented national -instincts. -</p> - -<p> -The anarchy and ambition of the provinces -commenced during the first few years of Argentine life. -Governments followed one another at rapid intervals; -constitutions and regulations were legion; political -forms were essayed as experiments, on Roman or -French models; there was the Junta of 1810, the -Triumvirate of 1813, and the Directory of 1819. -Every two years, with inflexible regularity, from 1811 -to 1819, this uneasy republic imposed a new -Constitution. The Argentine troops, like the armies of -the French Revolution, gave the gift of liberty to -Chili and Peru; but at home the effort of Buenos-Ayres -to dominate the provinces was less fortunate. -</p> - -<p> -It has been written that in 1820 the confusion and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P135"></a>135}</span> -discord in the Argentine were so intense that the -effort of the revolutionaries of May appeared to have -spent itself. In Buenos-Ayres there was a divorce -between the factions, and a struggle between Unitarian -and federal <i>caudillos</i>: Alvear, Sarratea, Dorrego and -Soler; between the municipalities and the rebellious -troops; in the country as a whole it was the struggle -of the provincial leaders against Buenos-Ayres and -the Directory. -</p> - -<p> -In the midst of this period of disturbance the -federal democracy was born; the provinces -concluded treaties, the capital compromised with the -<i>caciques</i>, the governors of the provinces; the <i>cabildo</i> -retained its representative character, the military and -civil elements entered upon a mutual conflict. -</p> - -<p> -Finally, in 1821, the Directorial party, aristocratic -and Unitarian, was victorious. Bernardino Rivadavia -was the representative figure of the period. -Secretary in the government of Rodriguez from 1821 to -1824, President from 1826 to 1827, a civil dictator -like Portales in Chili, a remarkable statesman, a -reformer like Moreno and Belgrano, he presided over -a premature realisation of the democratic ideal, and -symbolised the Unitarian principles in all their force: -the supremacy of Buenos-Ayres, constitutionalism, -European civilisation, and the ideal Republic. He -was the pupil of Lamartine and Benjamin Constant -in a barbarous democracy. He had every -gift—physical arrogance, oratorical power, honesty, -enthusiasm, patriotism. He divined the elements of -Argentine greatness: immigration, the navigability -of the rivers, the stability of the banks, and external -trade. But Buenos-Ayres was then a plebiscitary -republic, in which the <i>cabildo</i> and the people resolved -all problems of politics, and Rivadavia suffered -ostracism, as he had enjoyed the unstable popularity -with which democracies endow their leaders. -</p> - -<p> -He was, according to the expression of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P136"></a>136}</span> -M. Groussac, a vigorous forger of Utopias. He granted -all political rights; he wished to see a republic with -a free suffrage; he 'doubled the number of the -representatives of the people, and suppressed the -municipalities which had prepared the way for the -revolution. The executive power renounced its -extraordinary attributes and submitted to the -legislative power. Was this wise, in a revolutionary -country, face to face with the disunited provinces? -Rivadavia organised the judiciary as a supreme and -autonomous entity. He declared, in messages dealing -with the doctrine of high politics, that property -and the person were inviolable; he proclaimed the -liberty of the press, and recognised the liberty of -the conscience. -</p> - -<p> -He commenced the campaign against the Church, -suppressing convents, seizing their possessions by -mortmain, ignoring the ecclesiastic charter, and -secularising the cemeteries. He aspired, like -Guzman-Blanco, to found a national and democratic religion -upon the traditional elements. A great educator, -he had faith in the benefits of popular instruction, -erected buildings for the use of schools and colleges, -attracted foreign teachers, and promulgated a plan -of study in which the physical sciences and -mathematics, forgotten under the old system, occupied the -first rank. He founded numerous pedagogic -institutions: the Faculty of Medicine, the Museum, the -Library, special technical and agricultural schools, -and colleges for young girls. -</p> - -<p> -He did not overlook material progress. His -financial reforms were radical; the national budget -was instituted; a tax upon rent was imposed, and -the customs duties were regularised. The minister -Garcia contributed to this financial reformation. -Rivadavia understood that the whole future of -Buenos-Ayres depended upon that great civiliser, the -ocean, and he ordered the construction of four harbours -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P137"></a>137}</span> -on the coast. He favoured immigration, -protected agriculture, improved the ways and means -of transport, reformed the police, and contracted the -first loan. -</p> - -<p> -It was under the government of Rivadavia that -the Constitution of 1826 was promulgated. This -was inspired by the doctrines of J. J. Rousseau, and -his <i>Contrat social</i>; but it aimed energetically at -centralisation and authority. Senators were to -exercise their functions for twelve years; they were the -conservative power. The mandate of the deputies -and the Director was to last only four years. It -was a Unitarian constitution which made Buenos-Ayres, -in spite of the protest of the federals, the -capital of the United Provinces of the Rio de la -Plata, the centre which "rules all the peoples, and -upon which all depend." -</p> - -<p> -Rivadavia imposed unity, propagated his ideas, -multiplied reforms, and checkmated the Church; he -was the civiliser <i>par excellence</i>. He wished to -transform a Spanish province into a European nation, a -barbarous people into a democracy, a sluggish and -fanatical society into a liberal republic. He governed -in the interests of Buenos-Ayres and the seaboard, -for the future Latin democracy, and neglected the -desert, the anarchy of the provinces, the indomitable -sierra, the <i>caciques</i>, and the Indian tribes. He was -vanquished by feudal barbarism, by a confused -democracy, hostile to organisation and unity; but his -work remains, in the shape of a constitutional -programme. Alberdi writes that he gave America the -plan of his progressive improvements and innovations: -it is an immense political structure, a gospel -of democracy. Were popular myths to rise in -spontaneous birth in Buenos-Ayres, before the evocative -ocean, as in the Greek cities lovingly bathed by the -Mediterranean, then Rivadavia would be the genius -of Argentine culture, the patron of the city, the -creator of its arts and its laws. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P138"></a>138}</span> -</p> - -<p> -While the magistral President was showering down -reforms, the demagogues triumphed over his efforts -toward unity. His constitutional labours miscarried -in the provinces; the governors would not submit -to the haughty supremacy of Buenos-Ayres. They -fought for power in rude civil wars, in the North and -on the seaboard. Some provincial congresses were -precariously installed, and Montevideo renounced its -union with the Argentine. A <i>caudillo</i>, who at times -rose to the moral greatness of the Liberators, Artigas, -longed to see Uruguay, his country, independent. -The Empire of Brazil and the Argentine democracy -were wrangling for its possession. Rivadavia -stoically resigned the Presidency in 1827, having shown -himself a prodigal and sumptuous creator and an -eminent prophet; he left the country, having wearied -the populace with his inventive genius.[<a id="chap0205fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0205fn1">1</a>] In his place -General Dorrego was elected Governor of Buenos-Ayres, -the federal chief of the city, as Rosas was of -the country. The war with Brazil continued; but -in 1828 a treaty was signed which recognised the -autonomy of Uruguay. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-138"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-138.jpg" alt="RIVADAVIA. President of Argentina (1826-1827)." /> -<br /> -RIVADAVIA. <br /> -President of Argentina (1826-1827). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -This Brazilian victory aroused the indignation of -the Argentine Unitarians; they overthrew Dorrego -and elected General Lavalle to be Governor. A -storm of tragedy broke over the divided city. -Dorrego was shot by order of Lavalle, and then -began the terrible war of hatred between federals -and Unitarians—a Jacobin conflict. -</p> - -<p> -The daring revolt of the provinces had coincided -with the promulgation of the Constitution of 1826. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P139"></a>139}</span> -Since 1820 the Argentine provinces had been in a -state of revolt against the imposed or suggested rule -of Buenos-Ayres; it was the period of <i>caudillos</i>. -To the aristocratic presidency of Rivadavia they -opposed the Terror. They represented the barbarian -might of the provinces. They made federation a -reality, cemented it by long quarrels, sanguinary -hatreds, conventions, alliances, and friendships. The -provinces fought within the nation; the cities within -the province; within the city, the families. An -inflexible individualism—the fundamental Spanish -tradition—dissolved the provisional crystallisations of -society and politics. It was not a simple federal -disaggregation—a clash of ambitious overlords eager -to surround their manors by new domains; it was -a mystic barbarism, the leaders of which recalled the -nomadic and fanatical Tamerlane. They were -impelled by a strange, rude force, disordered and -prodigious—the genius of the <i>pampa</i>, the instinct of -a vagabond race. -</p> - -<p> -General Quiroga, the "Facundo" of Sarmiento, -was the prototype of these turbulent <i>gauchos</i>. By -conquest or alliance he extended his government over -several provinces. The paltry Bustos, the Reinafé -family, the crafty Lopez, and Ferré were also among -the Argentine <i>caudillos</i>; Lopez extended his rule -over Entre-Rios, Santa-Fé, and Cordoba. Facundo -dominated them all by the range of his deeds and his -influence. He came from the Andes to the conquest -of the seaboard and the great rivers; he reigned -in Rio, Jujuy, Salta, Tucuman, Catamarca, San Juan, -San Luis, and Mendoza; he grouped vast provinces -together, and paved the way for unity in the future; -he was the forerunner of Rosas. Cruel and loyal, -noble and bloodthirsty, honest, frugal, and aggressive, -a product of the <i>pampa</i>, he felt himself actuated by -primitive forces, by simple passions and instincts, by -heroism and the love of peril. Powerfully built, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P140"></a>140}</span> -with an abundant shock of hair, bushy eyebrows, and -the eyes of a ruler, he resembled one of those gloomy -Khalifs who brought the mystic terror of the Orient -to the West. On the standard which he raised -against the liberalism of Rivadavia was the -proclamation: "Liberty or death!" He was the "bad -<i>gaucho</i>" the enemy of social discipline, who lives far -from the city and its laws, conscious and proud of -his barbarism. Sarmiento stated that he entertained -"a great aversion for decent persons," and that he -hated the lordly city of Buenos-Ayres. He fought -with success against the Unitarian generals, Paz and -La Madrid, and against such secondary leaders as -Lopez and Reinafé. His life was a continual running -hunt across the rugged mountains; his goal the -city of Rivadavia and the Directory; his campaigns -were bloody, and worthy of a chaotic period, during -which barbarism changed only in kind from -Buenos-Ayres to Rioja. He pillaged, executed, and -triumphed in his rude insurrections at Tala, at -Campana de Cuyo. He wrote to General Paz in -1830, in his downright manner: "In the advanced -state of the provinces it is impossible to satisfy -local pretensions except by the system of federation. -The provinces will be cut to bits, perhaps, but -conquered—never!" Assassinated at Barranco-Yaco by -the treacherous hand of Reinafé, probably with the -complicity of Rosas, he left his heritage to this last -of the <i>caudillos</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Rosas was one of those hyperborean beings upon -whom Gobineau conferred a perdurable authority -over the human herd. He possessed a coat of arms, -blue eyes, and the spirit of a ruler. Sober, astute, -proud, energetic, he combined all the characteristics -of a great and imperious personality. He obeyed -neither general conceptions nor vast political plans. -He was a will served by ambitions. His authoritative -character of a Spanish patrician made him the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P141"></a>141}</span> -<i>paterfamilias</i> of the Argentine democracy. The -pursuit of power was an instinct, a physiological need; -he governed in the interests of federation, the -concrete, practical idea, which he absorbed by contact -with many regions, of the nomadic <i>gaucho</i>, the -self-willed provincial; and he expounded it in 1824 in -a famous letter to Quiroga. He was not content to -work for the mere realisation of the North American -ideal; his aim was national federation. He was -persuaded of "the necessity of a general government, -the only means of giving life and respectability" to -a republic; but only the properly constituted states -would accept this central authority. Of a federative -republic he writes that nothing more chimerical and -disastrous could be imagined when it is not composed -of properly organised states. The anarchy of the -Argentine was not a condition propitious to the -foundation of federation or unity; Rosas affirmed, -recalling the United States, that "the general -government in a federative republic does not unite -the federated peoples: it represents them when -united." So he wished to unite the provinces: "the -elements of discord among the peoples must be given -time to destroy themselves, and each government -must foster the spirit of peace and tranquillity." -</p> - -<p> -Amid dogmatic governors and impenitent -revolutionaries, this president who desired a real -federation and accepted, as a factor of human conflicts, -time, the creator of stable nations, seems a figure -strangely out of place. Rosas left "the elements of -discord time to destroy themselves"; an invulnerable -dictator, he watched over the obscure process of -national gestation, isolating his people, detesting the -foreigner, as though he wished to prepare the way, -free from all perturbing influences, for the fusion -of antagonistic races, the purging of local hatreds, -and the harmonious life of men, traditions, and -provinces within a plastic and fruitful organism. From -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P142"></a>142}</span> -chaos a spontaneous federation was to spring, of the -North American type; as in the formation of the -United States, the provinces, in possession of their -autonomy, concluded pacts of union. Such was the -federal pact of 1831, between the provinces of the -seaboard—Corrientes, Entre-Rios, Buenos-Ayres, and -Santa-Fé; such, twenty years later, was the -Constitution of 1853. -</p> - -<p> -Pacts and charters recognised "the sovereignty, -liberty, and independence of each of the provinces." -</p> - -<p> -The work of Rosas was profoundly Argentine. It -presents a triple civilising significance; it overcame -the partial <i>caudillos</i>, conquered the wilderness, and -founded an organic confederation. Traditional, for -it respected ancient liberties; opportunist, adapted -at the critical moment of national evolution, for it -prevented the disaggregation of the provinces by -the labours of unconscious leaders. Like Porfirio -Diaz, Rosas destroyed the provincial <i>caudillos</i>; he -was a Machiavelli of the pampas. He dissembled -his unificatory aims; he caused division among the -governors, stimulated their mutual hatred, presided -over their quarrels; he grouped or isolated his -disciples, who cut a lively figure on the hustings. When -the power of Quiroga increased, he protected Lopez, -and exposed the former to the hatred of the Reinafé; -Quiroga once murdered, he had the latter accused. -He expected the governors to submit to his -<i>exequatur</i>; the demi-gods fell before the stroke of -his imperial axe. "Rosas is the Louis XI. of -Argentine history," said Ernesto Quesada, with -justice; for over the heads of the feudal barons he -raised a magnificent Unitarian structure; he was -the creator of Argentine nationality. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-142"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-142.jpg" alt="ROSAS, THE ARGENTINE TYRANT. (1829-1852.)" /> -<br /> -ROSAS, THE ARGENTINE TYRANT. <br /> -(1829-1852.) <br /> -</p> - -<p> -Rosas surrounded himself with chosen men: -the Lopez, Anchorenas, Mansillas, Sarrateas, Riglos. -The cultivated classes demanded a strong government, -renounced their liberty with a Dionysiac -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P143"></a>143}</span> -delight, and conferred "unlimited power" upon -Rosas. The tyrant governed, in short, above the -law and above custom. He enacted laws to prohibit -the carnival, that popular souvenir of the pagan -Bacchanalia, and to establish the rules of mourning; -he himself was the law, was reason, was the <i>logos</i>; -intoxicated with docility, a whole nation bowed before -his Cæsarian will, without hierarchic distinctions. -His rule was a supreme levelling, a universal -servitude; the Terror. Rosas, impelled and favoured by -the supreme traditions of a race, became the Cæsar -of a democracy. -</p> - -<p> -<i>Gauchos</i> and negroes supported him; with the -aid of the people he subjected the ruling classes. -He unified; he destroyed social privileges; he -inverted the order of the hierarchies in the Unitarian, -aristocratic city. His political methods were of the -simplest. Instinctively he applied infallible -psychological truths. He knew the power of repetition, of -habit, of formulæ; he understood the enervating -effect of panic; the effect of vivid colours and -sounding words upon the half-breed mob. "Federation -or death!" he reiterated, in his proclamations. -"Savages, infamous Unitarians—impious Unitarians," -one read day by day in the journals, and in official -documents; that vivid colour, red, was the symbol of -federalism. Rosas wrote to Lopez: "Repeat the -word, savage! repeat it to satiety, to boredom, to -exhaustion." -</p> - -<p> -What such influences did not obtain was produced -by that effectual levelling agent, terror. Rosas -crushed rebellious wills; he overpowered his enemies, -the impious, infamous, savage Unitarians; he was the -Jacobin of the Federation. A prætorian legion, the -<i>Mazorca</i>, chopped off such heads as raised -themselves. He was a fanatical democrat, a lay -Inquisitor; if he discovered a political heresy he -condemned it without pity. As national <i>caudillo</i> he -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P144"></a>144}</span> -protected religion, attracted the clergy, and attacked -the Unitarians, not only because they were savage, -but also because they were impious. Like Portales, -he made a tool of religion. He defended the -"patrons," and condemned the Jesuits as conspirators, -not from religious motives. The clergy saw -in him the man chosen by God "to preside over the -destinies of the country which saw his birth." Rosas -governed according to tradition and history by -making use of the hatred of the masses and classes, -the fanaticism of the mob, the servility of the natives; -he was therefore a Catholic and a democrat. -</p> - -<p> -Like all great American dictators, Rosas proved -to be an eminent administrator of the public finances. -In a time of national disturbance and military -expenditure he displayed an extraordinary zeal in -organising and publishing the national accounts. His -method was simple rather than scrupulous; he -appointed honest men to high representative posts. -The official journals published the fiscal balance-sheet -monthly; receipts and expenditure, the fluctuations -of paper-money, and the state of the national -debt. Rosas was vigorous in assuring the service of -the external debt; he accumulated neither loans nor -fresh taxes. His economic policy was orderly and -far-seeing. To him we owe the construction of many -of the public works of Buenos-Ayres, including a -magnificent promenade, Palermo, where he built his -autocratic residence. His invulnerable dictatorship -was based upon material progress and fiscal order. -</p> - -<p> -He was also the defender of the continent against -European invasion. Like Juarez and Guzman-Blanco, -he professed a jealous individualism; his work was -bound up with race and territory. Continuing the -revolutionary movement of 1810, he desired not -merely freedom from Spain but autonomy against -the whole world. -</p> - -<p> -In the twenty-four years, 1829 to 1852, Rosas -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P145"></a>145}</span> -made federal unity a reality. He was first of all -governor and leader of the <i>gauchos</i>; in 1835 he -won the absolute power for five years, which term -was extended by several re-elections. Before him -was the anarchy of 1820 and the Unitarian -bankruptcy of 1826; after him, the powerful unity of -1853 and 1860, and the triumphal progress of the -Argentine democracy. Between this discord and this -unity came his fruitful despotism, a necessary Terror. -His dictatorship was more efficacious than the -autocracy of Guzman-Blanco or the ecclesiastic tyranny -of Garcia-Moreno. Porfirio Diaz and Portales, two -founders of political unity, were his disciples. He -was the builder of a practicable federation, because -he was a <i>gaucho</i> and could interpret the inner voices -of his race; he governed as an American, without -borrowing anything from European methods. -Without him anarchy would have been perpetuated, and -the vice-kingdom of La Plata would have been -irremediably disintegrated. Like the Roman deity Janus, -Rosas had two faces; he closed one epoch and -opened another; a past of warfare and terror and -a future of unity, peace, democratic development, and -industrial progress. -</p> - -<p> -He defended the country against the territorial -aggression of foreign coalitions, and his own power -against conspiracy and revolt; against the avenging -stanzas of Marmol, the aggressive journalism of -Rivera Indarte, and Varela, the rude pamphlets of -Sarmiento, and the meticulous dialectic of Alberdi. -To Unitarian insult he opposed the bloody campaign -of the <i>Mazorqueros</i>; to European tutelage, the -individualism of the <i>gauchos</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Rivadavia was thesis, Facundo antithesis, Rosas -synthesis. The first represented absolute unity; the -second, anarchical multiplicity; the third, unity in -multiplicity, plurality co-ordinated, union without -violent simplification. Rivadavia comprehended the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P146"></a>146}</span> -necessity of the supremacy of Buenos-Ayres, built as -it was upon the ocean that brought men and wealth; -he stood for the fundamental unity of La Plata. -Facundo, in the place of this premature unification, -erected the autonomous province, pure and simple, -but diverse. Rosas brought about the final harmony -of the forces of Argentine politics. He united, like -Rivadavia; he separated, like Facundo; he dominated -the capital city, and moderated provincialism; -he painfully founded the Confederation. His renown -reached Europe; Lord Palmerston was his friend; -great foreign journals, such as the Times, the <i>Journal -des Débats</i>, the <i>Revue des Deux-Mondes</i>, discussed -his policy and his influence. Alberdi recognised that -he contributed to the repute of the Argentine abroad -by his heroic defence of his territory. His cruelty -was effectual, his barbarism patriotic. -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "<i>Como hombre te perdono mi carcel y cadenas;<br /> - Pero como Argentine, las de mi patria, no!</i>"[<a id="chap0205fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0205fn2">2</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -cried Marmol. They were necessary chains, for they -bound the country together after the feudal dispersion, -vanquished the resolvent forces of provincialism, -and gave unity and strength to democracy. -</p> - -<p> -After Rosas, his political work, the confederation, -survives in spite of the ambitions of Buenos-Ayres. -A logical development confirms the ties that unite -the provinces, grouping and organising all the -national forces about the capital city. In eighty-six -years, from the anarchy of 1820 to the glory of the -Centenary, the Argentine has seen a transformation -of race, of policy, of wealth, of culture, of history; -Argentina is now a great Latin nation, which will -soon possess the moral and intellectual hegemony of -South America. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0205fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0205fn1text">1</a>] Carlos Octavio Bunge, in his remarkable book, <i>Nuestra -America</i>, gives the struggle between the capital and the provinces -a racial and economic character. He distinguishes three periods of -evolution: from 1810 to 1816 the Creole half-breeds contend with -the "Goths"; from 1816 to 1825 the rural masses rise against the -rich middle classes of the provinces; from 1825 to 1830 -Buenos-Ayres—the capital city, rich, and Creole—enters -upon a conflict -with the provincial cities—Indian or mestizo. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0205fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0205fn2text">2</a>] "As man I forgive you my prison and my chains, but as -Argentine, those of my country—no!" -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0301"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P147"></a>147}</span></p> - -<h2> -BOOK III -</h2> - -<p class="t3b"> - <i>THE PRINCIPLE OF AUTHORITY IN MEXICO,<br /> - CHILI, BRAZIL, AND PARAGUAY</i><br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -These republics have stood aside from the normal -evolution of Venezuela, Peru, and Bolivia; they -have known neither perpetual revolutions nor -lasting anarchy. Social progress has been -accomplished under the pressure of long-continued -tutelage; the principle of authority has been a -safeguard against disorder and licence. These -are the more stable and less liberal peoples. In -them liberty is not a spontaneous gift by charter, -but something won from selfish oligarchies or -tenacious despots. Such is the case in Mexico, -Chili, Brazil, and Paraguay. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P149"></a>149}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I -<br /><br /> -MEXICO: THE TWO EMPIRES—THE DICTATORS -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The Emperor Iturbide—The conflicts between Federals and -Unitarians—The Reformation—The foreign Emperor—The -dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz—Material progress and -servitude—The Yankee influence. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -In Mexico we find an alternation of revolutions and -dictators. The principle of authority is supreme; -it even gives rise to two empires and a permanent -presidency; there has always been a well-organised -monarchical party. Modern Mexico demonstrates -the excellence of strong governments in a divided -continent. -</p> - -<p> -The Aztec nation was born into freedom in 1821, -after the capitulations of Cordoba. The Viceroy -O'Donoju recognised the triumph of Iturbide, and -the rights of Mexico; the Spanish leader and the -patriot <i>caudillo</i> decided upon the creation of an -empire which should conserve the rights of -Ferdinand VII., like the <i>juntas</i> of South America; the -creation of a constituent congress, and the nomination -of a provisional government, which should preside -over the destinies of the nation during the indecision -of the twilight of the old <i>régime</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Iturbide very shortly came forward as an incarnation -of the national characteristics; he was actuated -by an imperious ambition, and haunted by the -triumphs of Napoleon. He had studied the classics, -and was a brilliant and persuasive orator. His -courage and activity and his dominating character -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P150"></a>150}</span> -won him a sudden popularity. Bolivar, in a letter to -Riva-Agüero, said: "Bonaparte in Europe, Iturbide -in America: these are the two most extraordinary -men that modern history has to offer." The clergy, -the Mexican nobility, the troops, and the lower -classes, who regarded him as the liberator of their -country, flocked around him. Congress was in part -hostile; Generals Bustamente and Santa-Ana -supported him in the Assembly; Generals Victoria and -Guerrero attacked him. The deputies understood -that he aspired to absolutism, and that he aimed at -becoming the heir to the overlords of Anahouac. A -prætorian revolution proclaimed him "Constitutional -Emperor of Mexico" on May 21, 1822. The -political opinion of the country was divided. The -monarchists wanted a Spanish prince; the republicans -a federation, a democracy with full liberties. -Of these latter Iturbide said: "They were my -enemies because I was opposed to the establishment -of a government which would not have suited Mexico. -Nature has produced nothing suddenly; she acts by -successive stages."[<a id="chap0301fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0301fn1">1</a>] The Emperor responded to the -aspirations of the populace, and flattered the -imagination of the crowd by the pomp and pageantry of -his coronation, and the splendour of his Court; he -was the national monarch, the creator of his country, -as were the feudal kings in Europe. Convinced of -his prestige and impelled by ambition, he dissolved -Congress. Thenceforward his government was -menaced by <i>caudillos</i>, who defended the violated -constitution. Iturbide abdicated in May, 1823, and -when he returned to his country the sentence of -death pronounced upon him by contumacy was -enforced. He was executed by shooting in 1824. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-150"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-150.jpg" alt="PASEO DE LA REFORMA, CITY OF MEXICO, ON INDEPENDENCE DAY. (From "Latin America, the Land of Opportunity," by the Hon. John Barrett.)" /> -<br /> -PASEO DE LA REFORMA, CITY OF MEXICO, ON INDEPENDENCE DAY. <br /> -(<i>From "Latin America, the Land of Opportunity," <br /> -by the Hon. John Barrett.</i>) -</p> - -<p> -Santa-Ana, who had directed the revolution against -the Emperor, was the Mexican <i>caudillo</i>, as Facundo -was the <i>caudillo</i> of the Argentine pampas, or Paez -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P151"></a>151}</span> -of the Venezuelan plains. He professed no definite -political doctrines; he was, first of all, a radical -reformer, but afterwards, with prudent opportunism, -he accepted the ideas of the conservatives. Crafty, -ambitious, ignorant, a democrat by instinct, he finally -became the fetish of the mob, the hero of the civil -wars; as president, as general, as supreme authority, -he governed his divided country. Between Iturbide -and Juarez, between emperor and reformer, he was -for twenty years a sombre and overpowering figure. -His triumph in 1824 ratified the policy of federalism; -the Constitution recognised two chambers; the -presidential term was four years; the judicial power was -irremovable, and the provincial assemblies elected the -national Senate. Under this system General Victoria -became president. It was then that a fear of Spain -and the monarchy resulted in a policy of <i>rapprochement</i> -with the great Northern republic. The <i>yorkina</i> -lodges, radical in spirit, acquired considerable -influence, and worked in favour of a North American -hegemony; the prestige of the ancient Scotch -lodges, on the other hand, decreased. -</p> - -<p> -Santa-Ana led a new revolution which gave the -Presidency to General Guerrero; General Bustamente -was Vice-President. The economic crisis was -accentuated by these successive revolts; the -Government was carried on by means of onerous loans; -the increasing debt drained the Treasury, and -discontent evoked another revolution. A supporter of -Iturbide, General Bustamente, autocratic and -conservative, was proclaimed President; he had the -previous ruler, Guerrero, shot, stifled the provincial -rebellions, and re-established internal order. A civil -war forced him, in 1832, to compromise with the -director of all these political conflicts, Santa-Ana. -</p> - -<p> -With him the liberals triumphed, and a social -transformation commenced. The liberals were the -"new men," as in Venezuela, under Guzman. The -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P152"></a>152}</span> -colonial oligarchy, the republican bureaucracy, the -high clergy, and the wealthy classes composed the -conservative group which had founded the Empire -with Iturbide, and desired royalty with -Lucas-Alaman. Against them rose the reforming -democracy, liberal or radical; it was a conflict of -principles and classes. The lawyers, the lesser -clergy, and the coloured middle classes gained the -upper hand in 1833, and the great economic, social, -and religious reformation commenced; Juarez was -presently to give it the dignity of constitutionalism. -In the struggle against the conservative and monarchical -Church the liberals disregarded ecclesiastical -jurisdiction, confiscated by mortmain the goods of -the religious communities, promoted lay education, -and secularised the reactionary University, as Garcia -Moreno in Ecuador condemned the liberal University, -and, impelled by a pernicious radicalism, they -suppressed the army of a nation a prey to anarchy. -</p> - -<p> -After Santa-Ana a coloured <i>caudillo</i>, Benito Juarez, -was the leader of the reformers (1839), and with -him the liberal movement took on a profoundly -racial character. Juarez represented the natives, -the democracy, as against the colonial oligarchy; like -Tupuc-Amaru, he was the redeemer of the Indians; -like Las Casas, the protector of the vanquished. -Better than Guzman-Blanco and Rosas he realised -the ideal of those American republics which were -oppressed by memories of colonial days; hatred of -all privilege, a dream of absolute liberty, war upon -the tutelary Church, and a strict despotism designed -to create classes and ideals. -</p> - -<p> -He proclaimed the separation of Church and State, -and the confiscation of ecclesiastical property. Lerdo -de Tejada was the economist and ideologist of the -Reformation; Juarez was its muscle, its iron will; -he realised without compromise the old liberal -programme. Congress, divided into Juarists and anti-Juarists, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P153"></a>153}</span> -elected him President. All the laws against -the Church were applied, but that did not enrich the -country. Stock-jobbing, scandals, waste, and -bankruptcy accumulated and formed a terrible argument -against the "pure" liberals; the latter defended -themselves by means of proscriptions and new and -violent laws of reform. Once more the shadow of -the Empire hovered over the turbulent democracy. -</p> - -<p> -It was no longer a question of the national Empire -of Montezuma or Iturbide, but of the foreign eagles. -Napoleon III., a conqueror by family tradition, -intervened in Mexican affairs; like Louis-Philippe, he -desired colonies oversea; he defended the Latin -civilisation against the Yankee peril, protected the -Church against the Reformation, and extended over -barbarous countries the amiable empire of the French -spirit, the spirit of lucidity, method, and harmony.[<a id="chap0301fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0301fn2">2</a>] In -1861 the Mexican Congress suspended the service -of the debt, as a remedy against financial bankruptcy, -and this measure provoked French intervention; -there was a crusade of ambitious creditors against -Mexico. England and Spain signed an agreement -in London; both were enemies of the insolvent -democracy. The hatred of Mexico was then excited -against Spain; the Spanish Minister was expelled; -the federal Government refused to treat with the -Spanish <i>chargé d'affaires</i>. The Reformation general, -Zaragoza, organised the country for defence against -the Spanish invasion; he was victorious at Puebla. -The Mexican resistance was concentrated upon the -central plateau, where dwelt the <i>penates</i> of ancient -Mexico. Zaragoza died; Puebla, attacked by the -French, defended itself heroically; the national war -became also a civil war. The monarchists desired -a prince, the restoration of the Catholic Church, and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P154"></a>154}</span> -the consolidation of the conservative oligarchy; the -clergy shared their ambitions. The Archduke -Maximilian arrived, to whom the conservatives had -offered the throne of Iturbide, and from 1863 to -1864, after some hardly contested battles, the -invaders ruled the country. Maximilian, surrounded -by the aristocrats, triumphantly entered the Aztec -capital, and the people, overpowered by the splendour -of the new court, accepted the foreign monarch. -</p> - -<p> -This monarch, pompous and ambitious, wished, -like Napoleon III., to found a "liberal empire," -a democratic kingdom; he did not condemn the -Reformation, but professed to be anxious to assist it -and to purge it of its Jacobin origin. Heir to the -viceroys and dictators, Maximilian re-established the -right of "patronage" and favoured religious -tolerance. A few reformers applauded his liberalism, -but neither liberals nor conservatives were satisfied; -the former because they had dreamed of a secular -republic, the latter because they wished for a -clerical monarchy. The revolution continued. The -Emperor, effaced like any Mikado, did not govern; -his tycoon, General Bazaine, at the head of a French -army, was the real source of authority. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-154"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-154.jpg" alt="BENITO JUAREZ. President of Mexico in the struggle against the French invasion." /> -<br /> -BENITO JUAREZ. <br /> -President of Mexico in the struggle against the French invasion. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -His presidential term ending in 1865, Juarez -proclaimed himself Dictator in order to continue his -resistance against the Empire, which, between -a monarch and a general, between the discontented -clericals and the aggressive reformers, was -tottering to its fall. The North American Republic -condemned the monarchy in the name of the Monroe -doctrine: this was intervention against intervention. -The War of Secession in the United States was over, -and the States feared their Imperial neighbour. -From that time fortune abandoned the Mexican -monarch. Napoleon III. had occasion to withdraw -his troops; Prussia, ambitious of hegemony in -Europe, and victorious at Sadowa, was causing him -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P155"></a>155}</span> -uneasiness. He advised Maximilian to abdicate; -but the Emperor was by no means willing to give -way; he had become a reactionary, and vigorously -defended his Imperial dignity. The tragic hour of -desertion and disaster struck, and the Mexican -revolution was prolonged (1866). Porfirio Diaz, -escaping from Puebla, which was besieged by the -French, organised the reconquest of Mexico at -Guerrero. Sombre and virile, he took refuge on the -high plateau, as did the Gothic king in the mountains -of Asturia. He captured Puebla after a day's -glorious fighting. Surrounded by Republican troops, -Maximilian took refuge at Queretaro; he was taken -prisoner with his army and the best of his generals. -He was condemned to death, and Juarez, inflexible -as the Aztec gods, refused to show mercy. The -Emperor was executed at Queretaro on the 19th of -June, 1867. On the following day Mexico yielded -to the legions of Diaz. The Reformation had -vanquished two emperors and erected two scaffolds. -In these struggles Juarez, the half-breed <i>caudillo</i>, -and Porfirio Diaz, the invincible general, had -acquired a lasting influence, and Juarez, as President -and Dictator, proceeded to organise the country. -He strengthened the executive power against anarchy, -endeavoured to found a conservative Senate, -maintained order by means of a disciplined army, and -improved the condition of finances by severe -economies. His ministers, better educated and more -intelligent than their leader, realised sweeping -reforms while he gathered the victorious generals -about him. The new Government entrusted the -Preparatory School to a great educator, Gabino -Barreda; like Rivadavia in the Argentine, it applied -itself to the moral and material transformation of the -country. It protected foreign capital, established -liberty of trade, favoured colonisation, fostered -irrigation, and commenced to build a railway from Vera-Cruz -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P156"></a>156}</span> -to Mexico. The ideal of Juarez was the -education of the native race, the nucleus of -nationality; like Alberdi, he believed that -Protestantism would be a fruitful moral doctrine for the -Indians. "They need," he told Don Justo Sierra, -"a religion which will force them to read, not to -spend their money on candles for the saints." He -established an industrial democracy, a secular State. -</p> - -<p> -But between his political ideas and his dictatorial -acts there was a discrepancy which explains the -ultimate sterility of his efforts. "The only book -he had read thoroughly was the <i>Politics</i> of Benjamin -Constant, the apology of the parliamentary system."[<a id="chap0301fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0301fn3">3</a>] Juarez -relied upon the democracy, on the governing -Chambers; he aspired to a position like that of a -constitutional monarch; that of a glorified spectator -of the quarrels of parties. His ideas urged him -toward parliamentarism; his ambitions, to dictatorship. -He professed to conciliate all the national -interests, to be the personification of the Mexican -democracy, but his dislikes were mean and paltry. -Severe, impassive, a great personality in his strength -and his silent tenacity, he had no great ideals; he -was no orator, no leader of the subject crowd. He -was merely the supreme <i>cacique</i> of a half-breed nation. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-156"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-156.jpg" alt="JOSÉ IVES LIMANTOUR. Minister of Finance during the Administration of General Diaz in Mexico." /> -<br /> -JOSÉ IVES LIMANTOUR. <br /> -Minister of Finance during the Administration of General Diaz <br /> -in Mexico. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -Despite his government, anarchy continued in -the States. The soldiers who had conquered in the -national war disturbed the domestic peace of the -nation by their ambitions; in Yucutan, Sonora, and -Puebla revolutions broke out, which Juarez -energetically suppressed. His presidential term at an -end, he aspired to re-election, and defeated Lerdo -de Tejada, the financier, and the warrior Diaz; but -his victory was not lasting. The great revolution in -which Diaz figured commenced, and Juarez died in -the midst of the struggle for power. Lerdo de -Tejada, who continued the reforms already -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P157"></a>157}</span> -commenced, was the next President; with him liberal -principles figured definitely in the Mexican -constitution. Lerdo strengthened the central power, and -started a campaign against the <i>cacicazgos</i>, the tyrants -of the Sierra, and founded a tutelary Senate. He, -like Juarez, aspired to re-election, and a fresh rising -at Tuxtepec prepared the way for his fall. The -Supreme Court considered itself authorised to -examine the titles of the presidential candidates, and -invalidated his re-election. By 1877 the Revolution -had conquered the country. -</p> - -<p> -It imposed upon Mexico the hero of the re-conquest, -Porfirio Diaz, who became the new national -<i>caudillo</i>, inheriting the Imperial ambitions of Iturbide, -the craft of Santa-Ana, and the moral dictatorship -of Juarez. -</p> - -<p> -The country was disorganised, its credit in the -European markets was destroyed; its national -finances were in disorder. The blood-stained soil -was divided among petty <i>caciques</i>; radicalism led -to demagogy and liberty to anarchy. Jacobinism had -triumphed with the Revolution, and condemned the -re-election of presidents and the conservative Senate; -the omnipotence of the popular Chamber was -proclaimed. The result was a feeble and ephemeral -government; in the absence of a moderating power -the radical Assembly was supreme. A man was -needed to organise chaos; Porfirio Diaz was the -necessary autocrat, the "representative man" of -Emerson. -</p> - -<p> -Stern and gloomy, he was preparing for the priesthood. -Born in 1830, he was brought up in poverty. -A half-breed, he combined the courage of the Iberian -with the dissimulation of the native. He knew the -efficacy of work, perseverance, and method; he -was extremely ignorant, but was shrewd and -perspicacious. He was six times elected President, for -the last time in 1900, and peace was coterminous -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P158"></a>158}</span> -with his rule. A great hunter and a master -of manly exercises, his intensity of will-power was -supported by solid physical foundations. Above all -he was a man of action; his character was served -by a robust organisation; a powerful frame and a -vast power of resistance enabled him to rule and to -intimidate. His intelligence applied itself to concrete -things; it was unable to examine facts in the -transforming light of an ideal; he had no general ideas, -no spacious plans; he was slow in deliberation and -rapid in action. His politics were an organised -Machiavellism; like Louis XL, he divided that he -might reign and dissembled that he might conquer. -His ideas of government were simple: "Not much -politics and plenty of administration," said his deeds -and his programmes. -</p> - -<p> -Machiavelli, in <i>The Prince</i>, taught the means of -ruling in states which have had autonomous -governments; he suggested the implacable extermination -of the reigning families. General Diaz followed this -counsel in part. To overcome anarchy he attacked -the obscure tyrants of the provinces, and had them -shot or exiled, or else he attached them to himself -by means of honours and rewards. He imposed peace -by means of terror. He knew that order was the -practical basis of progress, as in the formula of -Comte, which the Mexicans are fond of quoting, -and this order he firmly established. -</p> - -<p> -The destruction of the revolutionary instinct -constituted the negative side of his work; Diaz built -upon this foundation an industrial republic, practical -and laborious. Weary of barren ideologies, he put -the Reformation and its Jacobin doctrines out of his -mind, accepted and encouraged the Yankee influence -which had made Lerdo de Tejada so uneasy, -conquered barbarism and the desert by means of the -railway, and raised a number of loans. He was the -president of an industrial epoch. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P159"></a>159}</span> -</p> - -<p> -His economic labours were imposing; in twenty-five -years Mexico was transformed from a divided -republic into a modern State, from a bankrupt -nation into a prosperous and highly solvent people. -Diaz recalls the gods who built cities and filled -the earth with the gold of fruitful grain, and -taught the virtues of the metals and of fire. -"Modern Mexico," writes the <i>Times</i> in 1909, "is -the creation of the genius of General Diaz; he is -the greatest statesman the transatlantic Latin -communities have produced since their foundation." This -organiser of peace astonished the old-established -nations, who listened attentively to the fruitful words -of light which fell from the lips of the Aztec -demigod. -</p> - -<p> -In 1884 Diaz commenced to reorganise the -finances of his country. He was seconded in his -task by eminent secretaries like Limantour and -clever financiers like Romero and Macedo. The -gold of the United States invaded the market; -it was employed in the construction of railways -and in industrial undertakings. In 1905 Limantour -established the gold standard as basis of the -monetary system. The service of the debt was -regularised by agreement with foreign creditors; the -budgets ceased to present deficits; in ten years the -surplus reached a sum of seven million pesos. By -1894 the exports were in excess of the imports. -Thanks to this favourable commercial balance, credit -increased, and industries were multiplied; the -exuberant national prosperity attracted foreign -capital and settled it in the country. Here are some -figures touching this progress. In 1876, at the -beginning of Diaz's rule, the Mexican imports -amounted to 28 millions of pesos (silver) and the -exports to 32 millions; in 1901 the amount of the -former was 143 millions and of the latter 148 -millions. The imports, a proof of the wealth of the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P160"></a>160}</span> -country, had increased fivefold; the exports, a sign -of agricultural and mineral production, had increased -almost in proportion. In twenty years (1880-1900) -the yield of the mining industry increased from 24 -to 60 millions, and in the same period 20 banks -were founded. A loan of 40 million dollars was -contracted in 1904, being issued at 94, bearing -4 per cent interest, on the sole security of the national -credit; that is, the security usual in such transactions -in the case of the great European nations. In ten -years the budget has doubled, increasing from 50 -to 100 millions. The surplus of the fiscal revenue is -devoted to decreasing the burden of taxation, and -in providing the country with fine and spacious -public edifices. The service of the foreign debt has -been secured with a continuity rare in America, -more than 30 per cent. of certain budgets having -been used for that purpose. The result of the -industrial evolution of the country is proving to the -detriment of agriculture, as in the Germany of -Bismarck and the Russia of Count Witte; looms, -paper-mills, hat-factories, &c., have been established. -The national requirements being satisfied, the -products of agriculture are exported—tobacco, -rubber, and sugar. The network of railways is being -greatly extended, and irrigation works are being -installed. Colonies of Boers have settled in Mexico. -The invasion of capital goes on unchecked, as does -the development of the economic life of the country, -and its political progress, revealed by its external -credit. -</p> - -<p> -Thus, the President, by means of sound money, -steady finance, and foreign gold, has founded a -practical republic. He has overcome the traditional -revolts—the ardour of the Jacobins and racial -passions—by a utilitarian campaign; he has created -a quiet and peaceful State, in which nothing is to -be heard but the sound of its factories. A great -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P161"></a>161}</span> -leveller, he has been, according to the Spanish -tradition, a Cæsar at the head of a democracy, the arbiter -of national conflicts, the supreme <i>caudillo</i>, obedient -to the voices of tradition. -</p> - -<p> -Sierra, the Athenian minister, and Bulnes, the -tempestuous historian, exalt him in admirable -dithyrambics. Sierra states that Diaz created "the -political religion of peace." But in the Aztec -nation this cult demands its sacrifices. Bulnes -considers that the Dictator procured peace by -"the system of Augustus as expounded by -Machiavelli"; he gave the <i>caciques</i> "riches and -honours," but not the government. And, in fact, -Porfirio Diaz has built up the new Mexico by freeing -it from the sectarian struggles and the foreign -invasion which threatened to destroy it; but his work -has been marred by uncertainty, and a heavy shadow -has weighed on uneasy spirits.[<a id="chap0301fn4text"></a><a href="#chap0301fn4">4</a>] The President at -last abdicated his powers after a bloody revolution, -and it is not easy to say whether or no his removal -will not result in anarchy or new Dictators. His -minister, Sierra, has written that the political system -of the Dictator "is terribly dangerous for the future, -for it imposes customs which are contrary to -self-government, without which there may be great men, -but not a great people"; and Bulnes says: "The -personal <i>régime</i> is magnificent as an exception," for -"under its empire a people grows accustomed to -expect everything as a favour and a grace; to be the -slave of the first who strikes it, or the shameless -prostitute of the first to caress it." -</p> - -<p> -These criticisms prove that General Diaz has not -applied the British methods of preparation for -self-government by means of a firm tutelage. Those who -condemn his long autocracy say that he enervated -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P162"></a>162}</span> -men's minds by means of terror, and has accentuated -the Aztec gloom by a narrow and monotonous absolutism. -Dictatorships are not societies of freemen; -they give humanity uniformity and servility. In -abandoning the supreme power after establishing -order and peace, by presiding as moral authority -over the free development of republican institutions, -Porfirio Diaz, like Don Pedro in Brazil, might have -been the supreme educator of the democracy. -</p> - -<p> -He governed with the aid of the "scientific" -party—a group which believes in the virtue and power -of science, exiles theology and metaphysics, denies -mystery, and confesses utilitarianism as its practice -and positivism as its doctrine. The Mexican -politicians, in renouncing Catholicism after the -Reformation and the passing of the Jacobin laws, have not -abandoned dogma and absolutism in doctrine and -in life. As in modern Brazil, positivism in becoming -the official doctrine. The heirs of Juarez are slowly -returning to Catholicism; they aspire to definite -certitudes; they have their "Syllabus." In the -President political majesty and the religious pontificate -were united, as in the Muscovite Czars and the -Spanish kings. -</p> - -<p> -In the restoration of the colonial order Juarez and -Lerdo de Tejada attracted European capital, for the -Yankee supremacy troubled them. Against this -policy, which was based on racial interests, General -Diaz protected North American capital; bankers -and adventurers invaded the country, dominated its -industries, and built railways. How check the fatal -current which brings the all-conquering gold from -the North? The national transformation is the -work of the magnates of Wall Street; Mexico -is becoming a "zone of influence" for the United -States. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-162"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-162.jpg" alt="GENERAL PORFIRIO DIAZ. President of Mexico (1876-1880 and 1884-1909)." /> -<br /> -GENERAL PORFIRIO DIAZ. <br /> -President of Mexico (1876-1880 and 1884-1909). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -The scientific party, intoxicated by an orgy of -utilitarianism, has not sought to arrest the great -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P163"></a>163}</span> -plutocracy of the North by means of European -alliances. -</p> - -<p> -Unity, wealth, peace: these are the magnificent -features of modern Mexico, the admirable work of -the Dictatorship. The Yankee peril; lay dogmas -which fetter intellectual evolution; a level of -utilitarian mediocrity without ideals of expansion, -without culture, without the true Latin characteristics; -popular ignorance and fresh revolutions: these are -the disturbing aspects of this long period of tutelage. -If the country triumphs over the obscure agents of -dissolution, the influence of Porfirio Diaz will be as -durable as that of Pedro II. or Portales or Rosas. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0301fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0301fn1text">1</a>] <i>Memoires autographes</i>, Paris, 1824, p. 28. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0301fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0301fn2text">2</a>] The brilliant Mexican historian Bulnes states that French -intervention was "the revolt of Napoleon III. against the Monroe -doctrine" (<i>El verdadero Juarez</i>, Mexico, 1904, p. 816). -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0301fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0301fn3text">3</a>] Bulnes, ibid., p. 101. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0301fn4"></a> -[<a href="#chap0301fn4text">4</a>] Diaz pacified Mexico by means of the weapon employed by -Rosas—fear. Bandits and revolutionaries were shot. His victims -are said to have numbered 11,000. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0302"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P164"></a>164}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II -<br /><br /> -CHILI: A REPUBLIC OF THE ANGLO-SAXON TYPE -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Portales and the oligarchy—The ten-years Presidency—Montt and -his influence—Balmaceda the Reformer. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -In Chili the course of political evolution has been -entirely original. Her first years of republican life -were as troublous as those of the Argentine, Bolivia, -and Peru; it was an age of anarchy. Carrera, the -dictator, overthrew four governments; there were -mutinies in the barracks, and quarrels among the -generals; the Dictator O'Higgins fell in 1823; a -<i>junta</i> followed him, and after the <i>junta</i> four -governors, Freire, Blanco Encalada, Eyzaguirre, -and Vicuña—ephemeral figures which a turbulent -democracy set up and destroyed. They occupied -the centre of the moving scene for some few months, -and were seen no more. During the administration -of Pinto, from 1827 to 1829, there were no less than -five revolutions. Federation was attempted in a -country essentially Unitarian; the Congresses were -disruptive assemblies; and in 1828 and 1829 an -obscure demagogy rose in revolt against the -guardians of social order. The national life was -chaotic: vandalism in the country, commerce paralysed, -industry at a standstill, finance in disorder, -credit vanished, and politics revolutionary. The -parties were struggling for power; the "old wigs," -<i>pelucones</i>, or conservatives, and the "white-beaks," -<i>pipiolos</i>, or liberals. The latter governed a people -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P165"></a>165}</span> -in love with liberty. The political orgy continued -until 1830; the Chilian people went from liberty -to licence, and from licence to barbarism. At last -the demagogy was checked by a man of superior -powers, Diego Portales, founder of the Araucanian -nation. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-164"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-164.jpg" alt="THE CATHEDRAL, SANTIAGO, CHILE. (From "Latin America, the Land of Opportunity" by the Hon. John Barrett.)" /> -<br /> -THE CATHEDRAL, SANTIAGO, CHILE. <br /> -(<i>From "Latin America, the Land of Opportunity" <br /> -by the Hon. John Barrett.</i>) <br /> -</p> - -<p> -The social constitution of Chili, the contact of the -castes, and the traditions of the country all favoured -his work of organisation. A narrow territory, whose -racial action must be unifying, and a long coast-line, -evoking the desire of adventure and expansion; these -are the geographical basis of a homogeneous race. -The Araucanians do not exhibit the gloomy passivity -of the Quechuas and Aymaras; they are rude and -warlike. Miscegenation has not, as in Peru and -Brazil, been complicated by Asiatic and African -strains; it has been simple, without the terrible -"hybridisms" of other countries. Hence national -unity and historical continuity. Over the servile mass -reigns, haughty and remote, a narrow oligarchy -formed of austere and positive Basques, deliberate -Anglo-Saxons, merchants, and sailors. -</p> - -<p> -No slaves, as in the tropics, but <i>inquilinos</i>, feudal -serfs of territorial barons. The oligarchy is -agricultural, and therefore stable and profoundly national. -In short, we have a copy of Anglo-Saxon society, -or of the first Roman Republic; a false democracy -governed by absolute overlords. -</p> - -<p> -With these strong conservative elements, Portales -constructed an austere nation. He was born in 1793, -and was thirty-seven years old at the time of his first -intervention in political life. He was a "new" man, -a merchant, with precise ideas. He had the -suggestive power of the <i>caudillos</i>, a concrete intelligence, -a moderate education, a strong will, some power of -reflection and authority. He might well become the -leader of a race that knew nothing of lyric -enthusiasms nor enticing dreams—the sensible -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P166"></a>166}</span> -director of a practical people. Minister under Ovalle -in 1830, he profited by the victory of General Prieto -over the <i>pipiolos</i>. His conservative, authoritative -ideas carried him into power. He never wished to be -President, but a powerful minister, like Disraeli or -Bismarck. Three or four simple and concrete ideas -guided him in politics; in the first place, the -organisation of Chili against anarchy. Religion is one -of the forces of order, and Portales, like Garcia-Moreno, -utilised it without going so far as theocracy; -the principle of authority is necessary in order to -organise a country, and the leader of the <i>pelucones</i> -demanded a strong executive with extraordinary -faculties. Between two excesses—autocracy and -demagogy—he inclined rather toward the former, and -became a minister-dictator. -</p> - -<p> -Portales governed against disorder; he dismissed -the revolutionary leaders, and men he divided into -good and bad. He surrounded himself with "good" -men: they were, naturally, conservatives. He hated -<i>sargentadas</i> (barrack mutinies); he educated the -soldiers, and founded a national guard as a -counter-check to militarism. He destroyed the bandits who -infested the country. Primary and normal schools -were opened, in which he favoured religious -instruction. A severe economy was introduced into the -national finances. His work was given legal and -economic form by a Peruvian jurist, Juan Egana, -and a Minister of Finance, Tocornal. -</p> - -<p> -The minister wished his work to share the majesty -of things eternal; his personal and passing -influence on life was not enough to satisfy him. He -had thoughts of a statute, an inflexible mould for -the future. The Constitution of 1833, which others -promulgated under his sovereign ægis, so to speak, -was his political legacy. -</p> - -<p> -This Constitution created a conservative Senate and -a strong Executive; the first was to defend tradition, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P167"></a>167}</span> -the second to direct the progress of the nation. The -provincial assemblies, vestiges of federalism, were -suppressed, and the municipalities were entrusted with -the public services. In case of internal trouble, -the President could declare a state of siege and -suspend the constitutional guarantees; but he could -neither judge nor apply penalties. The departments -elected the deputies; a limited suffrage appointed -the senators; their mandate was for nine years. -Patronage was organised, and the Church became a -State institution, for it defended property, order, and -the "good ideas" of the <i>pelucones</i>: it consecrated -the oligarchy, pure and simple. -</p> - -<p> -This Constitution explains the slow progress of -Chili in matters of liberalism, her long domestic -peace, and the lasting hegemony of an oligarchic -group. Alberdi attributed the Chilian peace to "a -vigorous Executive" and the Constitution of 1833. -</p> - -<p> -This statute once a reality, Portales quietly -organised the country; he imposed order "by reason or -by force." He retired from power, and, in consequence, -the conservative party passed through a crisis, -during which Rengijo and Tocornal were in conflict; -but Portales reappeared, as Minister of War, -under Prieto, and Tocornal, the eminent financier, -was at his side. The <i>caudillo</i> of order resumed his -work of organisation with incomparable activity; his -patriotic ambition was not satisfied by his triumphs -over intestine quarrels. He realised that Chili was a -maritime nation, commercial and oligarchical, like -Carthage, and he aspired to the domination of the -ocean. -</p> - -<p> -In the north, under the leadership of Santa-Cruz, -Peru and Bolivia had united. Portales feared this -confederation, intervened in the affairs of Peru, sent -two expeditions against Santa-Cruz, and fomented -anarchy in Peru. He destroyed the great work of -the great Bolivian <i>cacique</i>, and for half a century -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P168"></a>168}</span> -his imperialism made progress. Peru had wealth, -brilliance, and tradition; Chili deprived her of the -hegemony of the Pacific in a four-years war -(1879-84). -</p> - -<p> -The work of Portales was considerable. He -established peace in the interior, and excited the -ambition to rule; he organised the country under -a strong authority, aided by a tutelary Church; he -fostered wealth and material progress; he built -highways and railroads. A Constitution was to establish -his moral dictatorship for a period of fifty years. -The liberals themselves—Lastarria, Huneeus Gana—recognised -his masterly action in a time of disorder. -A conservative, Walker Martinez, wrote a brilliant -<i>apologia</i> for his work. Vicuña Mackenna, the -historian, wrote that "he was rather a great mind -than a great character," though his life's work, from -the repression of anarchy to the Peruvian war, proves -plainly that he was rather a great character than a -great mind. Portales died in 1833 by the hand of -an assassin. -</p> - -<p> -Manuel Montt continued his political work. His -minister, Antonio Varas, assisted him, as Tocornal -had assisted the leader of the <i>pelucones</i>. These -conservative minds began to govern in 1851, and -the re-election of Montt in 1856 prolonged their -term of action; this was the "Decenniate," a period -of bloodstained autocracy. The Monttvarists became -a national party; they defended order to the death, -by violence and dictatorship, first of all against the -radicals, and later against the radicals and the -<i>pelucones</i>. These ten years of disastrous organisation -divided two periods: the conservative period of -Prieto and Portales, and the liberal period of Perez -and Errazuriz. -</p> - -<p> -A liberalism better defined than that of the <i>pipiolos</i> -was causing the champions of order some uneasiness. -The eloquence of a tribune, Matta, the patriarch of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P169"></a>169}</span> -radicalism, the propaganda of Bilbao and Lastarria, -and the work of revolutionary clubs, such as the -"Society of Equality," formed a party of romantic -youth eager to sacrifice itself for its ideals. Montt -and Varas opposed it, and exiled or condemned to -death the future liberals—Santa-Maria, Vicuña -Mackenna, &c. They considered that Chili was not yet -sufficiently prepared for the theoretical liberties -upheld by Lastarria and Bilbao; they sought to -promote education of the British type, with a view to -liberty and self-government. They were the -representative personages of the Creole oligarchy, a -powerful conservative force, rude and beneficent. -Dictatorial repression did not destroy liberalism; the -presidents of the future were to be liberals, and -Montt himself slowly changed the direction of his -policy. In 1858, in the last years of the decenniate, -the <i>pelucones</i> attacked him because he tolerated the -Protestant religion in Valparaiso. -</p> - -<p> -Under the Monttvarist government, as under the -dictatorship of Guzman-Blanco and Garcia-Moreno, -the country progressed in an economic sense. -Railways, highroads, and telegraph lines were -constructed. Montt fostered agriculture and the -colonisation of the soil in the south by means of -credit banks; he opened nearly five hundred schools, -and also founded a national bank. Maritime -commerce increased, and the public revenue was doubled -during the Decenniate; finally, the admirable civil -code of Andres Bello, promulgated in 1857, gave -discipline and stability to the civil life of the country. -Portales, Bello, Montt, and Varas organised Chili -both politically and socially. -</p> - -<p> -After Montt, the presidencies of Perez, in 1861, -of Errazuriz, in 1871, and of Santa Maria, in 1881, -modified the conservative tendencies of the country. -All the conquests of the liberals—the civil register, -civil marriage, religious toleration—became laws of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P170"></a>170}</span> -the State. Liberalism has not lessened the presidential -authority. Perez, like Montt, ruled for ten -years. Long autocracies and conservative constitutions -explain the strength of Chili amid the anarchy -of South America. -</p> - -<p> -Portales was the organising genius; Montt -represented an epoch of social defence; Balmaceda was -the democratic reformer in an oligarchic country, -a liberal president in a time of conservative traditions. -Balmaceda is the greatest Chilian figure after -Portales; his presidency excited a revolution, and -transformed the political life of his people. -</p> - -<p> -José Manuel Balmaceda belonged to the Chilian -oligarchy. He was descended from a very old -colonial family. Juan de Balmaceda was president -of the <i>Real Audienca</i>, the king's tribunal, towards -the end of the eighteenth century. The name of the -family reveals its Basque origin. Balmaceda was -born in Santiago in 1838. His father, Don Manuel -José Balmaceda, was a conservative, the possessor -of vast <i>latifundia</i>, as the head of a traditional family. -</p> - -<p> -Balmaceda adopted democratic ideas. "Apostate" -the conservatives called him, forgetting that he had -changed his doctrines, but had not abandoned his -original mysticism; he believed in liberty as he -had previously believed in the inflexible dogmas of -the conservatives. He belonged to the Reform Club -of Santiago, in which a brilliant younger generation -upheld all the liberal idelas and romantic faiths of -1848, the antitheses of the ideas of the <i>pelucones</i> -and the Monttvarists. To the despotic executive he -opposed electoral liberty, a single-term presidency, -autonomous municipalities, and the restriction of -presidential powers; to the Catholic oligarchy, -religious tolerance; to the traditions of authority, the -formal recognition of the rights of the press and -the rights of assembly, meeting and petition; to the -confusion of the powers of the State, their independence. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P171"></a>171}</span> -Balmaceda was the president of the -Reform Club. He did not attack the position of a -traditional group with plebeian fervour, as the avenger -of an age of servitude; he left their ranks, rich and -patrician, to condemn their authority and their -privileges. It is the attitude of Winston Churchill in -liberal England. -</p> - -<p> -Balmaceda had powerful tools at his disposal: -personal wealth, the basis of independence, a -sympathetic creed, and a party which had been growing -powerful under the governments of Perez and -Errazuriz. -</p> - -<p> -We may distinguish three phases in his political -action: as a deputy he championed the laws of -reform; as Minister of Foreign Affairs he prevented -the intervention of the United States in the Pacific -war; as President he increased the presidential -power against the tyranny of Congress. From 1870 -to 1879 he was an impassioned parliamentarian, -believing in the efficacy of liberty against the -excesses of the conservative <i>régime</i>. In the Chamber, -as deputy and as Minister of the Interior and -Religions, he supported the legal measures of the -liberals: secular burial, civil register and marriage, -and liberty of worship. In place of an absolute -separation of Church and State—not to be realised in -Chili—he proposed the union of the two powers on -the basis of the traditional "patronage" and -religious liberty. He desired no radical reforms. "Let -us renounce," he said, "the idea of accomplishing -everything in a short space of time; let us beware -of carrying our solutions, guided by a spirit of -rigorous abstraction, beyond what is required by the -actual needs of the moment for the correct application -of liberal doctrine and for the common happiness." Balmaceda, -a radical in 1879, moderated his ambitions -ten years later, when he came to ask the Chilian -Parliament to pass his reforms. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P172"></a>172}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Minister of Foreign Affairs under Santa-Maria in -1881, he consolidated the victories of Chili in the -war of the Pacific. The military campaign was over, -and Peru was vanquished, but was defending her -territorial integrity against the conquering ambition -of Arauco. What the armies had not been able -to do diplomacy hoped to effect. The intervention -of the United States would have proposed, as the -solution of the war, peace without conquest; this -was the policy of Mr. Blaine, who dreamed of an -America at lasting peace under the golden reign of -arbitration. A North American minister, Mr. Trescott, -brought the proposals of his government -to Chili. Garcia-Calderon, President of Peru, the -champion of territorial integrity and national union, -stimulated the intervention of the United States, but -the mediators were inclined to treat the victors with -docility. President Garfield died, and the North -American policy changed. The Peruvian President -was a prisoner of Chili; from Rancagua to Quillota, -from Santiago to Valparaiso, he was the irreducible -symbol of vanquished Peru. The United States -abandoned him; their policy finally became -indecisive, turbid, Machiavellic. Lima and Callao were -occupied until 1883, when Balmaceda succeeded in -arranging the terms of peace, and the treaty was -signed which delivered over to Chili the riches of -Southern Peru. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-172"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-172.jpg" alt="JOSE MANUEL BALMACEDA. President of Chile (1886-1891)." /> -<br /> -JOSE MANUEL BALMACEDA. <br /> -President of Chile (1886-1891). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -The Imperialist minister had conquered; he -aspired to the presidency of his country. Santa-Maria -put him forward, and public opinion accepted -him, proud of his diplomatic triumphs. An age -of plenty commenced; the ancient Chilian austerity -was at an end. Balmaceda governed with his energies -increased a hundred-fold by the gold of Peru, the -moral power of victory, his ambitions as a statesman, -and the vocation for empire which a victorious war -develops in the heart of an energetic people. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P173"></a>173}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Materially, he transformed Chili; morally, he presided -over her dissolution, or, at least, her decadence. -Neither this degeneration nor this progress was the -exclusive work of the autocratic President. Wealth -enervates a sober people; it permits the erection of -monuments, but it weakens men's characters. Honest -and far-sighted, Balmaceda employed the millions -he had drawn from the war in material enterprises; -he built schools throughout the country, special -institutes, mining and agricultural colleges, -professional colleges; he began the construction of new -railways, of a breakwater at Talcahuano, of palaces -for the administrative services; he fortified several -ports, bought new ironclads, encouraged immigration, -founded military schools, and re-equipped the -army. He suppressed contributions, assured the -service of the foreign debt, amortised paper money, -and demanded guarantees of the banks. When in -Chili you inquire as to the origin of a public works, -a school, or a prison, you will hear of Balmaceda. -In finance, in education, and in colonisation he -effected a fundamental renaissance; he was the -master-builder among Presidents. -</p> - -<p> -Balmaceda was raised to the presidency by three -parties: the liberals, the radicals, and the nationals; -that is to say, by three aspects of one central idea, -varying from an attenuated liberalism which verged -on conservatism in its ideas (nationalism) to a violent -liberalism, verging on demagogy (radicalism). The -Balmacedist victory stifled all attempts at clerical -reaction; Balmaceda was a reformer. His ambition -could not be satisfied by material progress and -practical advance. As ideologist, he applied abstract -ideas to politics. He wished to unite all the liberals -in one preponderant party, to ensure a still greater -independence to the public powers, judicial and -municipal, and to despoil the executive of its -traditional attributes; to found an educated, liberal, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P174"></a>174}</span> -military, and virile democracy as a check against -the oligarchy, in which democracy dreamers of every -school could find their Utopia. -</p> - -<p> -Between his character and his doctrines there was -a grave discrepancy. An autocrat by vocation and -by temperament, because a patrician, he nevertheless -weakened the executive by the Municipal Law, -which established autonomous municipalities, and -by the law of incompatibilities, which conceded to -Congress a complete independence of the other -powers. "The mandate of the deputy" declares -this law "is incompatible with the exercise of any -paid public function." At this hour of party confusion -Balmaceda despoiled the executive of efficacious -agents in Parliament. He was thus, by a reform -which, ideally speaking, was perfect, preparing the -way for serious future conflicts. -</p> - -<p> -The liberal President condemned the Constitution -of 1833, the basis of Chilian order; he believed that -the new period demanded a new statute. "Neither -the desires of the country nor those of the parties -or groups now active," he wrote, "can adapt themselves -to the system of centralisation and authority -consecrated by the Constitution of 1833."[<a id="chap0302fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0302fn1">1</a>] He -criticised "the attributions which devolve upon the chief -of the Executive Power, the weakening of initiative -and of the local charters by excess of vigour in the -central power; the part played by the Executive -in the formation of the judicial power, its influence -upon the elections, the functioning of the legislative -power, the centralisation of the administration, and -the works which foster material progress." -</p> - -<p> -But by abandoning, by a sort of heroic suicide, the -forces conferred upon him by a traditional statute, -Balmaceda paved the way for an omnipotent Congress. -<i>Pelucon</i> by heredity, a cultured despot, he -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P175"></a>175}</span> -soon disregarded the power which he himself had -raised above the decadent presidency. The contradiction -between his life and his doctrines, his heredity -and his ideals, gives his noble and patrician figure -the majesty of a character of Æschylus, ennobled at -once and annihilated by destiny. Balmaceda -weakened the executive and put forward official -candidates; established the preponderance of Congress -and wished to have independent ministers; destroyed -the Constitution of 1833 and ruled as an autocrat. -Renan compared himself to the scholastic <i>hircocerf</i>, -which bears within itself two hostile natures; this -was also the fate of Balmaceda. -</p> - -<p> -His political ideal was that of Benjamin Constant; -of Lamartine, of Laboulaye. He accepted neither the -despotism of the President nor the tyranny of -Congress. -</p> - -<p> -Could the perfect equilibrium of the public powers -be realised in Chili, or was it merely the noble dream -of an ideologist? Very soon the omnipotence of a -centralised government was replaced by the dictatorship -of anarchical Parliaments. The parties imposed -ministers upon Balmaceda, and presented him with -lists of candidates, among whom the President, -powerless to refuse, was to choose his counsellors. -</p> - -<p> -It was a radical transformation, for from the time -of Portales the government had intervened in -elections, had insisted upon presidents and deputies. -Balmaceda disregarded his own work, rebelled against -Congress, governed without a budget, defended the -rights of the power which he had destroyed by -short-sighted legislation, and tried to enforce his wishes -as to the Presidency, in the traditional manner, and -Congress refused to accept his candidate. It has -been truly said that the government of Balmaceda -was the crisis of electoral intervention.[<a id="chap0302fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0302fn2">2</a>] Parliament -refused to pass the President's law of contributions, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P176"></a>176}</span> -overturned his ministries, and protested against the -designation of an official candidate; as in the time -of the French Revolution, a revolutionary committee -was formed in the heart of the Chamber. The two -dictatorships clashed. The revolution broke forth -in 1891; the fleet revolted; civil war divided -families; Congress fought for the Constitution, the -Government for the autocracy. From La Moneda -Balmaceda directed a terrible war against the -combined forces of the fleet, the banks, and the -Parliament. The factions fought with lamentable ardour; -it was a war of hatreds and reprisals, bitter as a -racial conflict. Two battles, Concon and La Placilla, -destroyed the power of the President. -</p> - -<p> -The revolutionaries got the upper hand, invaded -Valparaiso and Santiago, and the Araucanian savages -burned the dwellings of the President's friends, and -swept, brutal and drunken, through the silent cities. -Balmaceda took refuge in the Argentine Legation, -and his supporters hid, while a horde of vandals -proceeded to reduce the capital to ruins. The -defeated President took on a stoic grandeur; like -a hero of Plutarch, he transformed his fall into an -apotheosis; he purified the local tragedy by catastrophe. -Serene as a figure of antiquity, he committed -suicide, after drafting a noble political testament. -"Among those who are to-day my most violent -persecutors," he wrote, "are the politicians of various -parties whom I have heaped with honours, whom I -have exalted and served with enthusiasm. I am in -nowise surprised, neither by this inconsequence, nor -by the inconstancy of mankind.... All the -founders of South American independence have died -in dungeons, in prison cells, or have been -assassinated, or have perished in proscription and exile. -Such has been civil war in the ancient as in -the modern democracies. It is only when one has -witnessed the fury to which the victors in a civil -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P177"></a>177}</span> -war abandon themselves that one comes to understand -why, of old, the vanquished politician, even -though he were the most unworthy servant of the -State, made an end by falling upon his own sword." -</p> - -<p> -After these considerations of political philosophy, -the firm protestation of the hidalgo. He cannot submit -to "the criterion of judges whom he dismissed from -their posts on account of their revolutionary ideas." Two -ways remained open to him: flight or death, -and he preferred the second, for it might lessen the -persecution and the woes to be endured by his friends. -"I might still escape," he says in his testament, -"by leaving Chili, but this expedient would not be -consistent with my antecedents, nor my pride as a -Chilian and a gentleman. I am inevitably delivered -over to the judgment or the pity of my enemies, -since the Constitution and the laws have no longer -any virtue. But you know, gentlemen (he is addressing -Claudio Vicuña and Julio Banados-Espinosa) that -I am incapable of imploring favour, or even benevolence, -of men whom I despise for their ambition and -their lack of citizenship." He felt that a great crisis, -or a drama, requires a protagonist or a victim, and -he accepted his destiny to the death. Above the -half-breed <i>caudillos</i>, above the obscure crowd who -swarm in palaces and parliaments, hungering for -power and display, rises this patrician figure, -towering and solitary. -</p> - -<p> -In his political testament he condemns the existing -system: "As long as parliamentary government, as -men have wished to practise it, and as the triumphant -revolution will uphold it, shall continue in Chili, there -will be no electoral liberty, no serious and permanent -organisation within the parties, nor peace between the -groups in Congress." His bitter prophecy is -accomplished: an excessive and sterile parliamentarism -triumphed with the revolutionaries. From Portales -to Balmaceda the President was the supreme -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P178"></a>178}</span> -authority; after Balmaceda Congress governed, and -the President, the slave of the ruling groups, could -neither dissolve Parliament nor appeal to a popular -referendum. The liberty of the vote has been won, -but it ratifies the tyranny of the Assemblies. The -parties are fractional; authority, the basis of Chilian -greatness, has declined. A President without -initiative, an incoherent ministry, a Parliament divided -and uncertain: there is the political outlook. "The -Government of Congress is the Government of the -parties, and these political entities exist in Chili only -in the shape of antipathies or memories."[<a id="chap0302fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0302fn3">3</a>] -</p> - -<p> -The Balmacedist party itself did not escape the -universal dissolution. It still supports the presidential -system, but it does so without the rigidity of -its founder; it is liberal, democratic, and -parliamentary; its strength lies in the assemblies. "In -liberalism," Don Julio Zegers can write,[<a id="chap0302fn4text"></a><a href="#chap0302fn4">4</a>] "the -Balmacedists are those who prefer Unitarian pacts -to doctrines." -</p> - -<p> -In the political world the tradition of the <i>pelucones</i>, -of a strong tutelary authority, is dying; in the social -world the oligarchy is losing its ancient privileges -before the progress of the middle classes. Balmaceda, -the founder of schools and colleges, the -champion of all liberties, realised this national -transformation. Chili was the scene, after the political -revolution of 1891, of a social revolution, a warfare -of castes, a bloody conflict between the feudal -overlords and a Third Estate formed in the schools, liberal -and industrial. Two parties, radicals and democrats, -are organising themselves for the battles of the future. -"The radical party," writes an observer, "is composed -of the fervent enemies of the clergy and a -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P179"></a>179}</span> -great part of the youth of the middle class, which -combines with its religious hatreds a certain degree -of dislike of the wealthy and respected classes."[<a id="chap0302fn5text"></a><a href="#chap0302fn5">5</a>] Señor -Edwards believes that this socialistic tendency, -which is predominant among the radicals, -"constitutes a serious danger for the future." The -democratic party, like the English labour party, and the -united socialists of France, is a working man's party. -</p> - -<p> -The revolution of 1891 was directed by the -bankers. After the war of the Pacific the Chilian -oligarchy was dissolved; it formed itself into a -plutocracy, without austere traditions, which is -predominant in the Parliaments and is ambitious to seize -the reins of government. Balmaceda would never -give way before the "new men"; as an aristocrat -he was the enemy of the merchants. Portales -founded a society of patricians, but the liberal -president could not organise the democracy he dreamed -of. The financiers united with the great families -before the threat of formidable strikes, and the -intellectual elevation of the middle class, bankers and -landowners and property owners grouped themselves -in a more accessible oligarchy, much after the pattern -of the oligarchy of the United States. Balmaceda -was the last representative of the great Chilian -tradition, of the tutelary oligarchy which led and educated -the people and distrusted the plutocracy. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0302fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0302fn1text">1</a>] See J. Bañados Espinosa, <i>Balmaceda, su gobierno y la revolucion -de 1891</i>, vol. i. pp. 455 <i>et seq</i>. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0302fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0302fn2text">2</a>] Said by Don Juan Enrique Tocornal, a Chilian politician. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0302fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0302fn3text">3</a>] Alberto Edwards, <i>Bosquejo historico de los partidos politicos -chilenos</i>, Santiago, 1903, p. 116. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0302fn4"></a> -[<a href="#chap0302fn4text">4</a>] Cited by Vicuña-Subercasseaux in his study of Balmaceda. See -<i>Gobernantes y Literatos</i>, Santiago, 1907, p. 64. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0302fn5"></a> -[<a href="#chap0302fn5text">5</a>] Edwards, as cited. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0303"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P180"></a>180}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III -<br /><br /> -BRAZIL: THE EMPIRE—THE REPUBLIC -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The influence of the Imperial <i>régime</i>—A transatlantic -Marcus-Aurelius, Dom Pedro II.—The Federal Republic. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -While the republics of America have passed, without -prudent transition, from colonial dependence to -self-government, Brazil, by means of paternal -autocracies, was prepared for the ultimate realisation -of its republican dreams. There liberty was not the -immediate gift of unrealisable constitutions, but the -logical end of a painful conquest. Brazil was -successively a tributary colony, an independent -monarchy, an absolutist empire, and a federal and -democratic republic. One principle, that of authority, -was dominant throughout this process of evolution. -A rigid despotism gradually ceded secular prerogatives -before the attacks of an ardent liberalism; -progress was definite and order lasting, and revolution -has been powerless to shake the principle of -monarchical continuity. -</p> - -<p> -Portugal has not yet been invaded by the French -armies. The royal family, carrying the monarchical -<i>penates</i>, have fled toward their distant colony, the -idyllic and tropical Brazil. We are in 1807: Maria, -Queen of Portugal, is insane; João de Braganza, -the regent, placid and undecided, hopes for a -<i>bourgeois</i> ostracism, without political convulsions. -</p> - -<p> -In Brazil, the monarch, guided by conservative -spirits, transforms the economic system and decrees -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P181"></a>181}</span> -the freedom of the ports, and the metropolitan -monopoly is thereby abolished. England, watching -over the exodus of the king, demands protection -for her products. The factories which a policy of -lamentable rivalities had closed are reopened. As -early as 1808 the king wishes to found an empire -in this colony, devoid as it is of political -personality; in 1815 he raises it to the category of -kingdom, thus laying the foundations of nationality. -Independence, after this, will only be the natural -segregation of an organism already formed. -</p> - -<p> -The government of the Portuguese king develops -all the national forces which were embryonic in the -colony—art, law, literature. He founds the Bank -of Brazil, establishes a military academy, a national -library, and a botanic garden; he fosters agriculture -and immigration. His new domain seems to have -transformed the mediocre monarch. Under the influence -of his queen, Charlotte, eager for power and -display, he longs to extend his dominion over -Uruguay and Paraguay, perhaps even to reconstitute, -to his own profit, the vice-kingdom of La Plata. -He seizes upon French Guiana, which remains in -the power of Brazil until 1817. -</p> - -<p> -But such vast plans as these do not strengthen the -hands of the monarch. The Court, silent and -extravagant, does not please the Brazilians, and the -King favours the Portuguese merchants by an -extreme prodigality. He creates a new nobility, that -of the "sons of the King," and its influence in -the palace and its insolent display soon weary the -colonists. The old <i>régime</i> is still extant; a -parasitical bureaucracy, recruited among the Portuguese, -weighs heavily on the destinies of Brazil. -</p> - -<p> -A revolution in Portugal in 1820 invites the King -to return to Europe to accept the Constitution put -forward by the revolutionary <i>junta</i> of Lisbon. The -monarch leaves his son, Dom Pedro de Alcantara, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P182"></a>182}</span> -in Brazil, and quits the country. It is said that on -bidding Dom Pedro farewell he cried: "Before long -Brazil will separate from Portugal; if it is so, crown -yourself before some adventurer gets hold of the -sceptre." -</p> - -<p> -The Lisbon Parliament wished to destroy the -reforms of João VI. in Brazil, and to transform a -monarchical nation into a feudal colony, but the -Brazilian deputies then in Portugal protested and -emigrated to England. A revolution at Pernambuco -in 1817 had raised the standard of nationalism. The -manifesto or <i>Preciso</i> of the revolutionaries -formulated the complaints of the colony. "There is no -longer any distinction," said the victorious patriots, -"between Brazilians and Europeans; all consider -themselves brothers; as descendants of the same -origin, as inhabitants of the same country, as -believers of the same religion." -</p> - -<p> -Journalism, in its infancy, was propagating -constitutional ideas both in the north and in the south. -Jacobin declamation and romantic ideology created -a powerful movement in the taciturn colony. -Governmental <i>juntas</i> were appointed in the provinces. -Portuguese and Brazilians struggled for political and -social domination, but a Lusitanian army, in spite -of popular protest, imposed the oath of fidelity to -the Constitution which had been promulgated for -the metropolis by the distant Cortes. -</p> - -<p> -The prince prevented a federal disaggregation and -founded the unity of Brazil. He united the -representatives of the rebellious provinces, convoked, in -1822, a Constituent Assembly, visited the country -districts, and became the "perpetual defender of -Brazil." Like the Gothic kings at the time of the -Moorish invasion, or the French princes who were -faced with feudal anarchy, he founded a national -dynasty, and bound the unity and independence of -Brazil with the destinies of the monarchy. Dom -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P183"></a>183}</span> -João VI. had raised Brazil to the rank of a kingdom; -Pedro I. rendered it independent of Portugal. -"Independence or death!" he cried, in his triumphant -Odyssey across the rebellious provinces. At Ipiranga -floated the new flag, gold and green, of the new-born -Empire. Pedro I. was crowned Constitutional -Emperor in December, 1822. -</p> - -<p> -José Bonifacio Andrade e Silva, naturalist, -philosopher, and soldier, an encyclopædist according to -the French tradition, was the minister of this national -transformation; he condemned the revolution, having -previously supported natural rights and excessive -liberties. He suppressed the journals, and the -monarch dissolved the Constituent Assembly, whose -violence and lyrical propensities were not a help to -the political action of a conservative minister. -</p> - -<p> -Extreme groups were formed which the Emperor -endeavoured to conciliate: reactionaries who wanted -an absolute government, idealists who wished for a -republic, moderates, and conciliatory monarchists who -sought a gradual progress under a stable -government. Weary of revolutions the Emperor -inaugurated a despotic <i>régime</i>; he withdrew from the -Assembly, exiled the rebels, among others Andrade, -now radical but formerly a reactionary, and always -greedy for power. He surrounded himself with -Portuguese troops, and the new nobility, the <i>filhos -do reinho</i>, and the press attacked him in the name -of nationalism. It demanded the persecution of -favourites, as in the Spanish colonies the expulsion -of the old ruling classes was decreed. -</p> - -<p> -The Emperor once again united the moderate -parties, and demanded a Constitution, to which the -country swore allegiance in 1824; it was a -constitutional charter, an imitation of the liberal -European charters. In 1826 he convoked a new -National Assembly. Revolutions were still disturbing -the country; some provinces wished to secede -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P184"></a>184}</span> -from the new kingdom; Pernambuco was always -the centre of liberalism. An old patriot, Paez de -Andrade, hoped to unite the Northern States of -Brazil in the "Confederation of the Equator." The -monarch sent troops to the north to intimidate the -country, and the Lower Chamber condemned this -act of despotism; a radical priest, Diego Antonio -Feijó, led the radical opposition. He was a -revolutionary in Parliament, demanding a responsible -government, and condemning the ministers who -forced peace upon the provinces by means of foreign -legions, German and Irish mercenaries. -</p> - -<p> -The Chambers were invaded by republicans and -federals, and Pedro I. by no means abandoned his -reactionary ministers. These latter succeeded one -another in a series of perpetual crises. The external -warfare complicated the political situation; Uruguay -had revolted, counting on the aid of Argentine -regiments. The Brazilians were defeated, and recognised -the independence of Uruguay by the treaty of 1828. -</p> - -<p> -King João died in 1826, and the Emperor -remained undecided between the traditional kingdom -and the new Empire. He formed a liberal Cabinet -to satisfy radicals and federalists, who had triumphed -at the elections of 1830. A useless transaction: -ministries fell, and the financial muddle increased. -The people of Rio de Janeiro revolted, and the -Emperor abdicated. José Bonifacio, creator of the -political <i>régime</i>, was to be the tutor of the infant -prince. -</p> - -<p> -The Regency was a moderate government which -steered clear of reactionaries and exaltés both, of -absolutism and republicanism. Father Feijó, minister -of the Regency, became, like many radicals, a -conservative; he organised the National Guard, -suppressed military meetings and enforced peace in the -interior. Subversive movements continued, and the -invulnerable minister repressed them. The administration -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P185"></a>185}</span> -of the country progressed, schools were -founded, the Assembly issued wise codes of laws. -The Regent, Andrade, imprisoned and deposed, Diego -Feijó was elected tutor of the prince in 1835; the -old radical politician was now dictator. He -represented the moderates as against the revolutionists; -in extreme cases he abandoned liberalism for -autocracy. As early as 1836 his political autocracy -began to decline and the liberal campaign gathered -force. Feijó passed over the regency to his friend, -Aranjo Lima, and left the Government. This -representative of authority in a country which was a -prey to anarchy was autocratic by virtue of his -patriotism; like all American dictators he stifled -revolution in its blood. -</p> - -<p> -The liberals of yesterday are often the moderates -or conservatives of to-day in monarchical Brazil. -Andrade, Feijó, and Pereira de Vasconcellos are -examples of this inevitable transformation. Liberty -was the creed of these politicians when they were -oppressed by colonial absolutism, by the servitude -anterior to the monarchy and the Empire; they -realised their creed, and the reign of liberal principles -resulted in disorder. The excess of authority or the -excess of anarchy stood in the way of peace and -progress. The political leaders of Brazil swayed -from side to side; they were liberals against -despotism and autocrats against demagogy. -</p> - -<p> -In 1840 the infant prince attained his majority; -the liberals, powerful in Parliament, demanded that -the Regency should be terminated. The country -longed for internal peace, but discord between the -parties continued. Numerous revolutions disturbed -the country. Minas and Pernambuco, where sedition -had passed into a chronic condition, rose in 1842 -and 1848 respectively. -</p> - -<p> -Pedro II. governed with the liberals, but the -dangers of excessive liberalism, of premature democracy, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P186"></a>186}</span> -forced him toward autocracy. He was a -learned and sceptical Marcus Aurelius, a stoic who -had read Voltaire. "A simple and modest democrat, -losing nothing of his personal distinction," wrote -the historian Ribeiro, "generous and disinterested, -an example of all the domestic virtues, he courted -the respectful sympathy of the crowd rather than -popularity."[<a id="chap0303fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0303fn1">1</a>] He was the first republican of Brazil; -he presided over a nation in process of transformation. -Before the clash of races, the revolutionary -unrest, and Utopian radicalism his Government -maintained the traditions, reacted against violent -reforms, and favoured the gradual formation of a -new world. -</p> - -<p> -In 1841 he confided the ministry to the Marquis -de Paranagua, who exiled the revolutionaries, -reinforced the political unity of the country, and -re-established the Council of State. New ministries -continued the conservative reaction. Without freeing -the slaves, Brazil prohibited the traffic in this black -merchandise, at the suggestion of England. The -Empire, faithful to its traditions, intervened in the -affairs of La Plata. -</p> - -<p> -The Viscount de Itaborahy, once the external -conflict was at an end, presided over an -administrative ministry. Immigrants were attracted, and -founded German colonies in the south; the navigation -of the interior was protected, and the higher -regions of the Sertaõ were conquered. A new -commercial code, an administrative organisation, agrarian -laws, and the reform of the treasury: such were -the various forms of the Imperial activity. Itaborahy -was followed by an authoritative minister, the -Marquis de Parana, a political figure of lasting -national significance. -</p> - -<p> -A great administrator, he organised public education, -and extended the railways and the navigation -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P187"></a>187}</span> -of the rivers of the interior. He was assisted in his -labours by distinguished statesmen: a jurist, Nabuco -de Araujo, and a diplomatist, Baron de Rio Branco. -His activities were not merely administrative, but -political and social as well. He wished to reconcile -the parties; he absorbed the liberal element in the -conservative group, and by this fusion of the old -parties prepared the way for the appearance of new -groups, dominated by a definite intention of liberation -or conservation. The reactionary cabinets and the -philosopher-Emperor had founded order in the place -of revolutionary dispersion. But this order, the -victory of narrow traditionalism, could not be lasting. -Multiple racial elements—Portuguese, Indian, and -African—were seething in the new society; -democracy would prove to be the protest of redeemed -slaves against a powerful oligarchy. The Marquis -de Parana, who, having attracted the liberals, -transformed his own conservative group, and consolidated -order by reuniting the factions, understood that -reaction could not be permanent in an incoherent -democracy. He was the last of the conservatives -and the first of the liberals. -</p> - -<p> -The reactionary cabinets of Caxias, Olinda, and -Ferraz followed his, and other parties were formed: -authoritative conservatives, uncompromising liberals, -and a party of conciliation. The elections of 1860 -were a democratic triumph. Great orators came to -the fore with a truly tropical eloquence; these "new -men," like Antonio Leocadio Guzman in Venezuela, -stirred the passions of the people. To oppose their -liberal programme conservatives and moderate -liberals united in Congress. The reactionaries -governed from 1848 to 1862; now the radicals -sought for power. The last conservative cabinets fell -to pieces before the opposition of Parliament and -the protests of the crowd. Despotic monarchy was -condemned; constitutional monarchy had many -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P188"></a>188}</span> -supporters; new elections, in 1863, increased the -strength of the liberals and democrats. The -Paraguayan war against the dictatorship of Lopez gave -unusual prominence to the external life of the -country, and political agitation died down. -</p> - -<p> -Pedro II., representing the conservative interests -of historical and national continuity, was opposed to -an unruly liberalism. After one liberal ministry he -chose two moderate cabinets, under Olinda and -Vasconcellos, which were inclined to conservatism, and -finally Itaborahy dissolved the Lower Chamber. The -Emperor had gone back ten years; the ministry that -in 1852 had marked the triumph of the conservatives -was now to rule in the face of a rising tide -of democracy. A constitutional monarch by law, -he was none the less an autocrat, for he forced his -ministries upon a hostile Chamber, and gave politics -a direction contrary to the will of the people, and -those their suffrage had newly elected. -</p> - -<p> -The liberals rose against the reactionary Emperor -and demanded reform or revolution. A transformation -of the electoral system, of the Draconian code -of justice, and of the army, which was really a -Prætorian legion supporting an absolute power, and, -in the social department, the liberation of the slaves: -such was the programme of 1869. A dissident group -of conservatives united with the liberals, and a -patrician, Nabuco de Araujo, signed the manifesto -of the reformers. -</p> - -<p> -It was the crisis of the monarchy. Its historical -function was nearly at an end; it had organised -peace, created unity and nationality, and laid the -orderly foundations of the new Brazilian race. -Autocracy, necessary in the dawn of the century, was now -contrary to democratic development; after 1870 the -liberals openly aspired to found a republic. -</p> - -<p> -The ministry of Viscount Rio Branco, from 1871 -to 1876, maintained the <i>status quo</i>. A great administrator, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P189"></a>189}</span> -like the Marquis de Parana, he effected a -reform in public education by founding special -schools; he took a census of the country, and -extended the network of railways. Immigration -increased under his government and exchange was -bettered. A great social reform changed the face -of the Empire; in 1871 slavery was abolished. The -separated classes were about to mingle with the -nation; the result was the rise of a mestizo democracy. -Slavery abolished, castes confounded, liberals -discontented, the reactionaries growing old—on the -doubtful horizon one supreme hope was visible: the -republic. It was now the collective ideal, as the -Empire had been in the last days of the colonial -period. It was proclaimed, without violence, in 1889. -</p> - -<p> -The Emperor, who abdicated, a symbol of the -majestic past, had prepared the advent of the -Republic that ostracised him. His ideas were -liberal; he was the protector of the sciences; a -smiling philosopher; and in fostering the intellectual -transformation of Brazil he exposed his own autocracy -to the criticism of the liberals. By abolishing -slavery he weakened the power of the reigning -oligarchy; by destroying privileges and uniting hostile -classes he created a democracy. -</p> - -<p> -The Empire, in America, represents tutelary -authority. Between the feudal colony and the -Republic—two extreme points of political -development—arose the Brazilian monarchy, as a -moderative power. It brought a necessary equilibrium, and, -with that, progress. First of all it established -autonomy; then a national order, a national dynasty; -it preserved traditions, and organised the forces of -society. Beside it arose a conservative oligarchy, -bound to the soil; castes and permanent interests -were created. The territorial overlords upheld the -stability of the Empire, and an admirable political -system imposed peace upon a heterogeneous people, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P190"></a>190}</span> -shaken by the clash of races and the opposition of -seaboard and province. Between 1848 and 1862 -the monarchy created the Brazilian nation. -</p> - -<p> -In the South American republics anarchy destroys -national unity and prevents the crystallisation of the -social classes. In Brazil there were frequent -revolutions under the Regency; military leaders were -eager for power, but there was a permanent and -inviolable bulwark against disorder. The Emperor was -the <i>caudillo</i> of <i>caudillos</i>, the leader of leaders; the -Constitution partially justified his despotism. -Without violating it, he imposed, by means of conservative -ministries, lasting peace and gradual reforms. -Against this inflexible Cæsar struggled a seething -democracy; it snatched certain privileges and won -limited liberties, and eventually saw the birth of the -Republic, the appointed term of political and social -evolution. The rigour of the principle of authority -has spared Brazil the perpetual revolutionary crises -endured by other American nations. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0303fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0303fn1text">1</a>] Work already cited, p. 516. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0304"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P191"></a>191}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER IV -<br /><br /> -PARAGUAY: PERPETUAL DICTATORSHIP -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Dr. Francia—The opinion of Carlyle—The two Lopez—Tyranny -and the military spirit in Paraguay. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Paraguay, a child of the old <i>régime</i>, has preserved -seclusion and absolutism. In other republics -independence was a violent condemnation of the colonial -methods. Freed from Spanish tutelage, the -Paraguayan democracy none the less maintained its -retired life under paternal monarchs. Its evolution -is original; showing neither continual anarchy, as -in the tropics, nor the perpetual quarrels of <i>caudillos</i>, -disputing territory and wealth. Dictators and tyrants -imposed their inviolable will on the inland nation. -Autocracy levelled classes and races, and prepared -the way for the appearance, in isolated Paraguay, -of a new caste, formed of the fusion of Guarani -Indians and Spaniards. The dictators of Paraguay -professed a rigid Americanism; they expelled -strangers, and with arrogant patriotism wished the -republic to be self-sufficing. Their ideal was -essentially Spanish; a democracy governed by Cæsar. -</p> - -<p> -Dr. Francia was the first dictator in the Republic -founded by the Jesuits. A gloomy personality, of -an intense inner life, like Garcia-Moreno, he seemed -one of Cromwell's Puritans. Taciturn and solitary, -truthful and punctual, methodical, like the -Anglo-Saxons, and ambitious, but without passion or -exaltation, he admired Bonaparte, and like him became -consul and emperor. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P192"></a>192}</span> -</p> - -<p> -He was born in 1758. He was the son of a -Portuguese or Brazilian, Garcia Rodriguez Francia. -He studied theology in the colonial university of -silent, austere Cordoba. When General Belgrano -fomented the rebellion of the Paraguayans against -the Spanish rule, and a governmental <i>junta</i> was -installed, Caspar Rodriguez Francia was a member -of the latter. The little republic elected triumvirs -and consuls in the Roman manner. A Congress -assembled in the same year decreed the -independence of Paraguay. The country freed itself -not only from Spain but also from Buenos-Ayres. -No longer recognising the limits of the ancient -vice-kingdom, the <i>junta</i> refused to treat with Belgrano -unless he recognised the autonomy of Paraguay. -</p> - -<p> -The Congress of 1813, at which a thousand -deputies were present, continued to parody Rome; -it appointed Francia and Fulgencio Yegros consuls, -and promulgated a political system. Cæsar and -Pompey became the names of the new magistrates, -who were alternately in power. The liberty of -Paraguay was consolidated, and the consuls refused -to send delegates to the Congress of La Plata, which -the haughty metropolis convoked at Buenos-Ayres. -These magistrates condemned Argentines and -Spaniards to civil death, and forbade them to marry -Paraguayan women of white race. In a third -Congress (1814) Francia and Yegros demanded a -temporary dictatorship. -</p> - -<p> -Yegros was ignorant and popular. Francia, -energetic, learned, and a born dissembler, was obedient -to classic memories and to the Napoleonic tradition; -he aspired to absolute power. He was appointed -dictator for three years, and soon obtained supreme -power. He improvised his policy upon reading the -ancient history of Rollin; the republicans of Rome -served him as constant models, whose energy and -austerity he imitated. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P193"></a>193}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Educated for the priesthood, he became an -advocate. He knew the law and theology like a -lettered colonial, subtle and dogmatic. Before -becoming consul he had filled various municipal -offices; first he was secretary to the municipality, -then mayor. He studied local needs, and prepared -to govern as a nationalist. -</p> - -<p> -He made use of religion, as did Garcia-Moreno -and Portales, in order to render his political actions -more efficacious. He was tolerant in respect of -beliefs, but condemned atheism; he felt that the -Church was the only moral force in a disturbed -democracy. -</p> - -<p> -He would accept no international religion; he -wanted a Paraguayan, American cult, in which also -he resembled Guzman-Blanco. He declared himself -head of the national Church, and disregarded -the authority of the Holy See; he suppressed the -seminary and the monastic orders of the Franciscans, -the Dominicans, and the Sisters of Mercy, and -proceeded to appoint vicars and curates himself. The -Inquisition was abolished, processions were forbidden, -and the number of holidays was reduced to a -minimum. Francia ordered the payment of tithes, -protected religion, and extended the rights conferred -by patronage on the Spanish kings; he sold the -goods of the Church to build schools and barracks. -In short, he aspired to govern a Christian republic -freed from clericalism. -</p> - -<p> -Religion consecrated his authority; the Paraguayan -Church taught that all power, even tyranny, -was in its essence divine. When moral activity did -not suffice, Francia, like Rosas, appealed to terror. -Conspiracies against his tyranny were numerous; the -Dictator shot the rebels. His punishments revealed -an Oriental cruelty. In 1821 he executed the -representatives of the Paraguayan nobility. He levelled -his subjects, and governed without ministers, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P194"></a>194}</span> -surrounded only by informers and prætorian guards. -In 1860 a Congress conferred perpetual dictatorship -upon him, and he dissolved the Congress. He -suppressed the <i>cabildos</i>, or municipalities, and -replaced them by <i>juntas</i> selected by himself; he -annihilated all hierarchy and all privilege, and -assassinated Yegros, his companion in the Consulate. -His enemies he imprisoned, exiled, or killed. His -ambition was to cut off every head that raised itself -above the level of the uniform, anonymous, and -laborious crowd. -</p> - -<p> -He established internal order under his autocracy. -"Quarrels," he said, "paralyse industry, and injure -the prosperity of the nation." -</p> - -<p> -He created a Church and a Fatherland. To ensure -his work, he expelled the Spaniards and isolated -his country. He protected all foreigners who did -not come from Spain, closed the ports to trade, and -barred the rivers to free navigation. -</p> - -<p> -His efforts were contradictory. He hated Spain; -he wished to abolish the privileges of the nobility -and clergy, and he restored the colonial system; he -even aggravated it, giving it an unheard-of severity. -He restored absolutism, commercial monopoly, and -the communism of the Jesuits; there were estancias -known as "the Country's," whose products satisfied -the requirements of the budget. He unwillingly -conceded licences to trade or navigate on the -rivers; he opened great magazines, which recalled -the colonial fairs, for the sale of merchandise. -Paraguay existed in a condition of prodigious -isolation; commercial transactions declined, and money -went out of circulation. -</p> - -<p> -During this time the population increased. The -Dictator favoured Creoles, stimulated the crossing of -Indian and foreign blood by severe measures, and -carefully chose foreigners for the improvement of the -Paraguayan population by means of forced unions; -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P195"></a>195}</span> -in this way he continued the work of the Jesuits. A -homogeneous democracy, a national conscience, was -gradually formed. -</p> - -<p> -Like all the great American dictators, he stimulated -material progress, and rebuilt Assomption, the capital -city. He constructed public works, and forts to -stop the encroachments of Indians, protected -agriculture, and created industries. His ideal was full -autonomy in an isolation possibly barbarous. By -successive regulations he forced proprietors to sow -their lands, to extend the cultivated area; like the -Peruvian Incas, he would have none idle in his -kingdom; he distributed tasks and enforced their -execution. -</p> - -<p> -He ruled from 1811 to 1840, a long thirty years, -a period attained by no other American dictator but -Rosas. His work was rude and imposing; he -created a race, and freed his threatened country in -every sense, political, economic, and religious. A -priest said once in an ardent panegyric: "The Lord, -having cast a pitying glance upon our country, sent -us Dr. Francia to save it." The tyrant thus became -a redeemer, and is not without his strange legend. -At seventy years of age he was regarded as a remote -and divine personage. From a secret palace he -governed a disciplined people. He had militarised -the country and exalted patriotism, the strong -national feeling of small nations, from Uruguay and -Paraguay in America and Servia, to Bulgaria and -Montenegro in Europe. -</p> - -<p> -His long tyranny in no way debased the race. -When he died Francia was mourned by his people, -a people about to reveal in warfare a Spartan tenacity, -a tranquil heroism. Paraguay was unconquerable; it -was dispeopled, the masculine population disappeared, -but the Republic remained erect and aggressive. -Francia had formed a proud and warlike race. He -was the most extraordinary man the world had seen -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P196"></a>196}</span> -for a hundred years, said Carlyle in one of his -Essays—a Dominican ripe for canonisation, an excellent -superior of Jesuits, a rude and atrabilious Grand -Inquisitor. The Scottish historian praises the grim -silences of Francia—"the grim unspeakabilities"—that -mute solitude in which remarkable men commune -with the mystery of things. -</p> - -<p> -After thirty years of uniform dictatorship the -Guaranian people might have revolted against -autocracy. But here, contrary to that which passed in -other republics, the monarchy was not the term of -absolutism. Francia was replaced by new tyrants, -the two Lopez, and Paraguay accepted perpetual -dictatorship. -</p> - -<p> -A "ricorso" exhibited the old round of evolution: -the triumvirate, then the consulate, then dictatorship. -</p> - -<p> -The last of the Lopez was better educated and -more moderate than the previous tyrants; he -militarised the country, created an army of thirty -thousand men, and developed the fleet. Brazil and -the Argentine had difficulties with Paraguay; these -two countries were quarrelling for supremacy in La -Plata. Paraguay and Uruguay, States rebellious to -every yoke, provoked conflicts between these -ambitious powers. Brazil demanded reparation for -the attacks directed by Uruguay against Brazilians, -and Lopez intervened as meditator in this conflict. -He assisted Uruguay to maintain "the equilibrium -of La Plata." The Empire refused his good offices, -and the haughty tyrant declared war. He asked -General Mitre, President of the Argentine Republic, -permission to send his troops across the territory of -Corrientes. The President refused permission, and -protested against the accumulation of Paraguayan -troops on the frontier. The belligerents were now -three. Paraguay attacked two powerful States, the -Argentine and Brazil. The war lasted five years -(1865-70). -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P197"></a>197}</span> -</p> - -<p> -The war had all the grandeur of an ancient epic. -The heroism of Paraguay overcame numbers, destiny, -and death; she defeated the allies, and, hemmed in -by superior forces, still held out under the leadership -of Lopez, now transformed into a stern apostle of -nationalism. He performed prodigies; he attacked -without reserves, and, in a bellicose delirium, shot -down those who criticised his actions, and continued -the war on a territory dispeopled and steeped in -blood. The allies seized Assomption, and Lopez -himself fell in battle: the tragic personification of -an irreducible people. The first of the Lopez had -written to Rosas in 1845, "Paraguay cannot be -conquered." The war confirmed this prophecy. In -1870 the Brazilian and Argentine victors found only -a decimated country; the cities were deserted, -and foreigners had taken possession of the soil; the -solemn silence which Francia had dreamed of for -his country reigned throughout. The women were -accomplishing their funeral rites above unnumbered -and innumerable tombs; they dug trenches, and, like -Antigone in the Æschylean tragedy, carried in the -folds of their mantles the maternal soil that was to -cover the dead. -</p> - -<p> -After this war nothing could be more monotonous -than Paraguayan life; military presidents and civil -presidents have succeeded one another with intervals -of anarchy. The spirit of dictatorship is not dead. -The intellectuals—Dominguez, Gondra, Baez—deny -Lopez and Francia; but new tyrants reign over the -midland Republic. -</p> - -<p> -The principle of authority, exacerbated and -tenacious, has created modern Paraguay. This -nation confirms a law of American history. Dictatorship -is the proper government to create internal -order, to develop wealth, and to unite inimical castes. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0401"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P199"></a>199}</span></p> - -<h2> -BOOK IV -</h2> - -<p class="t3"> -FORMS OF POLITICAL ANARCHY -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -Revolution is general in Latin America. There -the most civilised nations have been rent by civil -wars. But there are a few republics in which -these conflicts have been perpetual: such is the -case in Central America and the Antilles. It -seems as though the tropical climate must favour -these disturbances. Assassinations of presidents, -battles in the cities, collisions between factions and -castes, inflammatory and deceptive rhetoric, all -lead one to suppose that these equatorial regions -are inimical to peace and organisation. -</p> - -<p> -There are two South American peoples in -which Jacobinism has become a national malady, -in which men of every creed are involved: they -are Colombia and Ecuador. Their tragic history -shows us a curious form of Ibero-American -anarchy: namely, religious anarchy. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P201"></a>201}</span> -</p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I -<br /><br /> -COLOMBIA -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Conservatives and radicals—General Mosquera: his influence—A -statesman: Rafael Nuñez, his doctrines political. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -A certain writer of New Granada, Rafael Nuñez, -a President and a party-leader, writes that "there is -not in South America a country more iconoclastic, -politically speaking, than Colombia." Republican -evolution there has been peculiar: it has witnessed -perpetual anarchy, like other American democracies, -and civil wars as long and as sanguinary as those of -the Argentine, but no long succession of tenacious -<i>caudillo</i>, personifications of local discord, whose -ambitions determine the intention of political conflict. -</p> - -<p> -In Colombia men have fought for ideas; anarchy -there has had a religious character. The parties -had definite programmes, and in the conflict of -incompatible convictions they soon arrived at the -Byzantine method of destruction. Public and private -wealth was exhausted, the land was dispeopled, and -inquisitors of religion or free thought condemned -their enemies to exile. "With us," Rafael Nuñez -admits "there has been an excess of political -dogmatism." A Jacobin ardour divides mankind; -the fiery Colombian race is impassioned by vague -and abstract ideas. The champions of liberty and -the supporters of absolutism apply their principles -to an unstable republic; they legislate for a -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P202"></a>202}</span> -democracy devoid of passions and inimical castes; they -build the future state by means of syllogisms. -</p> - -<p> -These sanguinary struggles have a certain rude -grandeur. On the continent men fight for crafty -<i>caudillos</i>, for the conquest of power and fiscal -treasure; the oligarchy which occupies the seat of -government defends its bureaucratic well-being from -the parties in opposition. In Colombia exalted -convictions are the motives of political enmities; men -abandon fortune and family, as in the great religious -periods of history, to hasten to the defence of a -principle. These hidalgos waste the country and -fall nobly, with the Semitic ardour of Spanish -crusaders. Heroes abound in the fervour of these -battles. Obedient to the logic of Jacobinism, -Colombia perishes, but the truth is saved.[<a id="chap0401fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0401fn1">1</a>] -</p> - -<p> -The liberal party, victorious in 1849, promoted -a vast democratic programme: the romantic -liberalism of the French thinkers, the socialistic ideas -of the Revolution of 1848, had reached Colombia. -The Colombians desired not only the liberation of -the slaves, the abolition of industrial monopolies, and -the autonomy of the communes, but also the realisation -of the needs of democracy; all the political -liberties, subject to prudent reserves; direct and -universal suffrage, trial by jury, the suppression of -the army, the abolition of capital punishment, the -institution of universities and scientific diplomas, and -the expulsion of the Jesuits, who in America were -the obstinate supporters of the old colonial system. -Federation, a weak executive, a secular State, and -powerful communes: such was the aspiration of the -liberals. A fraction of the party bore a symbolic -name: it was known as <i>Golgotha</i>. In their civil -wars the Catholics chose Jesus of Nazareth for their -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P203"></a>203}</span> -patron. Radicalism even aspired to religious -consecration; it founded a Christian anarchy, like that -of the primitive evangelical communities. It -preached fraternity and liberty, condemning political -power. -</p> - -<p> -Nothing could be more disastrous to a disorganised -republic than rationalism of this type. It applied -the principles formulated by the extremest idealists -in highly cultivated countries. Colombia, shaken by -revolutions, had need of a strong government; -radicalism destroyed it. There was no provincial -life, yet it created the omnipotent commune; it -suppressed the army in a democracy threatened by -civil and external war, established trial by jury in -a country swarming with illiterates, and granted -liberties wholesale to a revolutionary people; it -accorded political rights to the negro and the Indian, -servile and ignorant as they were, and demanded -federation, which is to say that it multiplied political -disorder. Foreseeing the errors of the future, Bolivar -told the Colombians: "I can plainly see our work -destroyed and the maledictions of the centuries falling -upon our heads." -</p> - -<p> -From 1849 to 1853 the liberal party struggled -to impose its doctrines. The Constitution of 1853, -celebrated in Colombian annals, was doctrinaire and -radical; it proclaimed the liberty of the press, of -thought, and of suffrage. By separating Church -and State it provoked a religious war and accepted -a moderated political centralisation. Thus the -excesses of unity and of federation were avoided. -</p> - -<p> -The liberal charter gave rise to lengthy quarrels. -The States gave themselves conflicting and opposite -constitutions; some were conservative and reinforced -authority; some were radical and founded an -anarchical democracy; some were liberal and extended -the suffrage; some were moderate and conciliatory, -uniting the ideas of all parties in unstable equilibrium. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P204"></a>204}</span> -In a country already divided by religious questions -this variety of <i>status</i> created a perpetual disorder. -</p> - -<p> -A new Constitution, more precise than that of 1853, -established the federal system without restrictions; -it was the triumph of the "Golgothas" over the -"Draconians," the radicals over the classic liberals. -The battle was renewed with fresh vigour. The -religious communities lost their legal character, and -could no longer acquire property; the State usurped -their wealth and ruined them as in Mexico. The -impetuous radicals sapped not only the ecclesiastical -power, but the political power also. They reduced -the presidential period to two years, granted the -provinces full sovereignty, prohibited the death -penalty without exception, conceded the absolute -liberty of the press, and authorised the buying and -selling of arms. -</p> - -<p> -Excessive liberalism disorganised the country. -Colombia suffered much from this vain idealism; -she became the social laboratory of professors of -Utopianism. The radicals created fresh elements of -discord; they attacked authority, religion, and -national unity. In 1870, in the face of bankruptcy, -the party abandoned its original extremeness; it no -longer professed anti-militarism, nor desired the -complete separation of Church and State. Sceptical as -to the benefits of the suffrage, it re-enforced the -executive, in spite of its original federal creed. -</p> - -<p> -The conservatives governed the country from the -dissolution of Greater Colombia, in 1829, until 1849; -they performed the work of organisation. Without -forming an oligarchy, as in Venezuela and Chili, they -represented permanent interests and effective powers; -religion, the colonial nobility, and the patricians who -won autonomy for their country. They were conservatives -in so far as they opposed the radicals, but -in 1832 they granted a political charter in which they -accepted liberal principles; they respected municipal -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P205"></a>205}</span> -liberties and the liberty of the press, surrounded -all the powers of the State with prestige and authority, -as also the senate and the magistrature, created a -Council of State, so necessary in an improvised -democracy, protected Catholicism, and limited the -suffrage. To be a citizen a man required "an assured -subsistence without subjection to any one whatever -in the quality of servant or workman." In the social -world they accepted the old division of castes. They -did not free the slaves, and they tolerated the -exportation of human merchandise. The radicals protested -against this shameful traffic; in 1842 regulations -were passed affecting black immigration, and 1849 -marked the fall of the conservative party. Then arose -eloquent demagogues, who preached a social gospel -much like that of the French revolutionists of -1848. -</p> - -<p> -Political life was less imperfect in Colombia than -in other Latin democracies. The opposition did -sometimes triumph in the electoral struggle; thus -in 1837 Dr. Marques was elected president against -the will of General Santander, the government leader. -I have spoken of the solid organisation of the parties: -however, there was no lack of <i>caudillos</i>, whose -influence in neo-Granzdan history was a lasting one. -</p> - -<p> -The first President, General Santander, was one -of Bolivar's lieutenants, as was Flores in Ecuador and -Paez in Venezuela. He inherited the moral authority -of the Liberator, and governed pacifically from 1831. -He aspired to absolutism, founded schools, and -organised the public finances; in London he -commenced the negotiation of the Colombian debt, -declared Panama a free port, and endeavoured to -enforce unity and peace; conspirators and -revolutionaries he shot. -</p> - -<p> -After the founder of the nation came two strong -personalities who hold a prominent place in the -history of Colombia: General Mosquera and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P206"></a>206}</span> -Dr. Rafael Nuñez.[<a id="chap0401fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0401fn2">2</a>] Their long rule is comparable to -that of Garcia-Moreno in Ecuador, or of Paez and -Guzman-Blanco in Venezuela. -</p> - -<p> -General Mosquera was at first a conservative -leader; his education, his origin, and his travels in -Europe all divided him from the democracy. He -had the gift of command, which had been developed -by the direction of armies in his youth. President in -1845, he developed the national wealth. His -government, which lasted from 1845 to 1849, was -distinguished by an intense material progress: railways -were constructed, steam navigation commenced on -the River Magdalena, the teaching in the universities -was improved, the finances were organised, the service -of the debt was assured, and the moral prestige of the -country improved. -</p> - -<p> -This conservative President had liberal leanings. -He presented laws to Congress which made his old -supporters uneasy; the abolition of the "tenth" or -tithe paid to the Church, and the diminution of fiscal -protection. It is difficult to believe that this lucky -soldier conceived the wise ambition to transform his -government into a liberal <i>régime</i> without violence. -Mosquera knew that after 1848 and its echoes in -Colombia the basis of his future popularity must be -a violent liberalism, and he became a federal and a -democratic leader. As military dictator he placed -himself at the head of the revolution of 1860, seized -the capital, Bogota, and was elected President in -1861. He imposed his variable will, changed his -ideas and his party in order to retain power, and -attempted to govern above the law and above -mankind. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-206"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-206.jpg" alt="GENERAL MOSQUERA. President of Colombia (1845-1849, 1861-1864, 1865-1867)." /> -<br /> -GENERAL MOSQUERA. <br /> -President of Colombia (1845-1849, 1861-1864, 1865-1867). <br /> -</p> - -<p> -Mosquera declared a <i>Kulturkampf</i>, separated -Church and State, exiled the bishops, confiscated the -goods of the convents, and, like Guzman-Blanco, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P207"></a>207}</span> -created a national Church. Without the authorisation -of the supreme power no priest could exercise his -religious functions. The civil power was the supreme -power; the Church and her ministers were subject -thereto. -</p> - -<p> -The President shot or suppressed his enemies, and -imposed his policy by terror; he enthroned militarism. -Faithful armies followed him, accustomed to -victory. The domestic policy of New Granada did -not satisfy his ambition; he aspired to restore the -Greater Colombia, and dreamed the dream of Rosas -and Santa-Cruz; the hegemony of his country to -be forced upon other peoples. He declared war -upon Ecuador, and was victorious. In 1864 he was -followed by another liberal, Dr. Murillo-Torro. In -1865 the military <i>caudillo</i> resumed the reins of -government. He was hostile to Congress, and -proclaimed himself dictator; he violated the Constitution -and the law, intervened in the struggles of other -States, and sought an absolute and irresponsible -authority. His own supporters conspired against him, -and sent him into exile. In Colombia he was the -indisputable authority, as Paez in Venezuela, from -1845 to 1867. -</p> - -<p> -After this long empire came a period of civil -Presidents and military Presidents, who moderated -the ambitions of the liberals. Presently a new -<i>caudillo</i> arose: Dr. Rafael Nuñez. Mosquera was -first a conservative, then a liberal. Nuñez, a liberal, -fomented a conservative reaction and dominated -Colombian politics for twenty years. -</p> - -<p> -At one time secretary to Mosquera, he had made a -study of the evolution of great States. He was not -only a leader, but also a diplomatist, and a philosopher -in his political disinterestedness, his lasting -moral influence, and the width of his views. A -theorist like Balmaceda and Sarmiento, he none the -less did not forget the inevitable imperfections of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P208"></a>208}</span> -Colombia. He became President of the Senate in -1878, and a minister of the Reformation and head of -the Republic in 1880. Democracy looked to him -for a renaissance. -</p> - -<p> -In the heart of the liberal party Dr. Nuñez directed -a new independent group. He had been a radical in -1850, but he departed from the rigidity of his original -beliefs before the persistent suggestions of -experience. Why weaken the executive in an anarchical -nation—why increase the national troubles by the -bitterness of religious warfare? Nuñez became a -liberal-conservative; he forgot his original socialistic -principles, the theories of Louis Blanc and -Saint-Simon, and applied a British common-sense to -Colombian politics.[<a id="chap0401fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0401fn3">3</a>] -</p> - -<p> -His political ideas (expounded in various articles) -were prudent and conciliatory; no sterile idealism -dominated Dr. Nuñez. He believed, with many -English statesmen, that "in politics there are no -absolute truths, and all things may be good or evil -according to opportunity and extent." This was -the policy he opposed to Colombian dogmatism. He -believed that "politics is indissolubly bound up with -the economic problem." -</p> - -<p> -A conservative in religion, tolerant in the art of -governing, he taught the Jacobins of America some -admirable lessons. "Our population," he wrote, -"does not exceed three millions of inhabitants, the -majority of whom are but slightly civilised. If the -social fraction called upon by its aptitudes to the -functions of government divides and subdivides itself -and occupies itself in weakening itself we shall never -succeed in doing anything of importance as legatees -of the Peninsular domination." His ideal was a free -oligarchy, coherent in intention, and in action -persistent. -</p> - -<p> -Equally lamentable were the division of the best -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P209"></a>209}</span> -class of the nation and the intolerance of the -governing parties. Rafael Nuñez preached respect for -minorities. "The absolute exclusion from the -government of the parties in a minority," he said, -"weakens the national spirit, envenoms discussion, -and creates extraordinary dangers." Majorities have -need of discussion and opposition. "The myopia -of party spirit," adds the <i>caudillo</i>, "fails to perceive -the virile vigour which a political group obtains by -the mere fact of giving proofs of tolerance, justice, -and respect for its defenceless adversary." "When -for some extraordinary reason one of the great parties -disappears, the surviving party splits up into fractions, -and these fractions fight among themselves as bitterly -as when they have to face a common enemy: even -more bitterly." -</p> - -<p> -The leader of the independents had studied political -science not only in foreign books, but also in -practice, in public life; he had a profound acquaintance -with the country which he governed, and with the -Latin American vices which are the incurable -weakness of these new democracies. "We have no viceroy -in Colombia," he said, "but anonymous rulers. We -have a written liberty, but no practical liberty. We -have a Republic, but only in name, for opinion is -not expressed by the only legitimate means, which -is the suffrage." "It is a grave error, generally -accepted by us, that the sole object of a political -party and all its efforts should tend toward the -possession of the public power, represented by the -leadership of the national army." -</p> - -<p> -He defends the principle of authority as against -anarchy. "The best of instruments, destined for -the long and arduous task of civilising the human -species." -</p> - -<p> -Respect for the constituted powers is unknown in -Colombia. All "dynamic mechanism" should have -a governor, that is, a counterpoise to the predominant -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P210"></a>210}</span> -impulse. Nuñez writes: "Monarchies need liberal -accessory institutions, and republics restrictive or -conservative institutions, without which the former -degenerate into autocracies and the latter into -anarchies, which announce the approach of -despotism." In default of the principle of authority, -so necessary and generally so feeble in democracies, -Rafael Nuñez sought for "elements of order in the -moral domain." -</p> - -<p> -He became a conservator; he protected religion, -like Portales, in order to give a disorganised nation -the firm unity of a law. The ex-radical ordered the -teaching of religion in the schools. "Traitor!" -cried his former supporters, but if he renounced -his former dogmas it was in his intellectual prime, -before the lamentable spectacle of an unstable -republic. "Fanaticism," he wrote, "is not religion -any more than demagogy is liberty; but between -religion and morality there is an indissoluble bond." -</p> - -<p> -Colombia had need of a stable internal law, of -a morality. To obtain order Dr. Nuñez desired a -Catholic unity; he abandoned his radical convictions, -and put his trust in authority, religion, and moderate -centralisation. But were not the articles of his new -programme the result of a free examination of reality -and of history? The leaders of the independents were -inaugurating an experimental politics. -</p> - -<p> -He accepted neither abstract principles nor theories -imported from other continents. Free trade obtained -in Colombia: it is the English economic dogma. -"With us," explained the statesman, "free mercantile -exchange simply transforms the artisan into a -mere proletarian working man, into food for powder -or a demagogue, for free trade practically leaves only -two industries vigorous—commerce and agriculture—to -which those who lack capital and credit cannot as -a rule devote themselves." This <i>caudillo</i> wished -to see a real autonomy based on a moderate protectionism: -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P211"></a>211}</span> -as President he fostered industries and -condemned the bureaucracy; he knew that the latter -favoured revolutions, and that men seldom fight in -civil conflicts except to obtain public employment. -"The motives for disturbing the peace," said he, -"will be less and less powerful as the official system -ceases to monopolise the opportunities of work." -</p> - -<p> -Dr. Nuñez was a sociologist; he had studied -Comte and Spencer; he wrote of society and its -laws, starting from the liberalism of Lamartine to -arrive at the British prudence of Guizot. An eminent -Colombian, Don Miguel Antonio Caro, called him -"the providential and necessary man," and demanded -recognition of his political infallibility. -</p> - -<p> -When he came into power in 1880 he was supported -by the independents and the conservatives; -men hoped for reform and peace as the result of his -political action. Under his government public order -was untroubled. He introduced economies in the -finances, and realised, like Mosquera, many works of -material progress; he founded a national bank, -reformed the university, and convoked, like Bolivar, -a Congress of plenipotentiaries at Panama. -</p> - -<p> -Dr. Zaldua followed him in 1882. But the influence -of the great <i>caudillo</i> was not yet at an end; he -was re-elected in 1884 for a period of two years, -and exercised a moral dictatorship. He proposed -to a friendly Congress the revision of the Constitution -of 1863. -</p> - -<p> -He then applied his political ideas, condemning -the two years' presidency, excessive federalism, and -the licence and demagogy of the country; he -organised a strong executive, conceded liberty to the -Church, increased the duration of the presidential -term, and initiated a prudent measure of concentration. -The Constitution of 1885 ratified the triumph -of the conservatives. -</p> - -<p> -From that time forward the President was -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P212"></a>212}</span> -<i>imperator</i>; elected for six years in 1886, re-elected -in 1892, he continued to exercise the supreme power -at intervals. He lived at Carthagena, and Vice-Presidents -(designated by himself) replaced him. He -became the tutor of the Republic; the governors -were his pro-consuls. He was the last great man -produced by Colombia, that fruitful soil for politicians -and men of letters. -</p> - -<p> -Mosquera represented federalism and radicalism; -Nuñez unity and tolerance. Fresh revolutions, -conflicts between conservatives and liberals, have -retarded the national development; new chiefs have -arisen, demigods of the world of politics. The -conservative work of Nuñez has proved sterile: -Colombia is always the land of eloquence and -Jacobinism, extravagant and excessive as the tropics -themselves. She still awaits fresh dictators who shall -organise the democracy of the future. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0401fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0401fn1text">1</a>] In his book <i>Desde Cerca</i> (Paris, 1908) General Holguin writes -that Colombia has known 27 civil wars. In that of 1879 she lost -80,000 men. She has spent 37 million pesos (gold) in revolutions. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0401fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0401fn2text">2</a>] There was one demagogue President in this State who, when -the slaves were freed, excited a conflict of castes: General Obaudo. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0401fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0401fn3text">3</a>] Rafael Nuñez, <i>La Reforma politica en Colombia</i>, Bogota, 1885. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0402"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P213"></a>213}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II -<br /><br /> -ECUADOR -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Religious conflicts—General Flores and his political -labours—Garcia-Moreno—The Republic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Ecuador constituted itself a free democracy after a -long period of indecision. Guayaquil aspired to be -an independent state; it listened to the melodious -aspirations of its poet, Olmedo, and at other times -sought to unite itself to Peru. Bolivar and La Mar -both sought to claim this city, which a proud -provincialism called "the pearl of the Guayas." The -vast ambitions of Bolivar won the day, and -Ecuador became a province of Greater Colombia, -under the hegemony of Venezuela or New Granada. -</p> - -<p> -General Juan José Flores, a Venezuelan, and a -friend and lieutenant of the Liberator's, founded the -Ecuadorian Republic in 1830. He was the "Father -of the Country," and teacher and guardian of this -precocious nation, as was Paez in Venezuela and -Sucre in Bolivia. He governed the country for -fifteen years, being elected President in 1831, in -1839, and in 1843. The unity of Colombia, maintained -by the autocracy of Bolivar, was an obstacle -in the way of Flores' ambitions for Ecuador; he -therefore sought to destroy the federal organisation. -Sucre, too, whose young and glorious shoulders were -soon to sustain the authority of a liberator, was -opposed to the ambitions of the Venezuelan <i>caudillo</i>. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P214"></a>214}</span> -The latter convoked a Constituent Assembly at -Riobamba. The first national statute of the equatorial -republic was then promulgated: it established a -representative government with two Chambers, an -executive independent of these Chambers, and Catholicism -as the sole State religion: these were the bases -of the Constitution. Ecuador once independent, an -era of incessant disturbances set in; men fought -for their leaders and for ideas. Flores symbolised -the principles of the conservatives, inimical to -radicalism and democracy; he dreamed of a strong -executive, a national religion, and a limited suffrage. -His ideal was a presidency of eight years, and a -senate of twelve, an echo of the Bolivian Constitution. -He accepted monarchy as the necessary solution of -Ecuadorian anarchy; he fell because he attempted -the restoration of a superannuated system. -</p> - -<p> -He and Rocafuerte, a liberal <i>caudillo</i>, the leader -of a party of cultivated youth, shared the public -functions between them. When Flores was President, -Rocafuerte was governor of Guayaquil; when -Rocafuerte ruled, Flores was commander-in-chief of -the army. Both were sent into exile; they were -successively enemies and allies. Flores played the -tyrant, suppressed liberties, and aspired to the -dictatorship; when he fell from power he prepared -filibustering expeditions in Europe to be launched -against his country. Spain offered him her aid in -1846. "Treason!" cried the Ecuadorian patriots. -The chimera of a monarchist, the scepticism of an -ambitious foreigner who had fruitlessly created a -new country on the ruins of Greater Colombia, say -we, after half a century has elapsed. America was -stirred by the campaign of reconquest which he -headed; in 1851 his temerarious plan had entirely -miscarried, and he sought the aid of Peru in order to -invade his country, then a prey to anarchy. He -was not successful in the field, and after a long period -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P215"></a>215}</span> -of ostracism he joined Garcia-Moreno, the leader of -the conservative forces; under the authority of the -latter his influence decayed and his history ended. -His disciple Rocafuerte was an excellent administrator, -who founded schools, organised the National -Guard, established military colonies in the east, -partially secularised education, proved a liberal -patron of arts and letters, and commenced the -codification of the civil and penal laws. -</p> - -<p> -In 1851 General Urbina forced a radical -government upon Ecuador; he was the genius of -destruction, an intriguer, an ambitious man whose -excesses provoked a conservative reaction. He -attempted in vain to establish a military <i>régime</i>. -Garcia-Moreno denounced the treason of Flores and -the radicalism of Urbina, and his moral influence -overcame the prevailing anarchy. This remarkable -statesman was born at Guayaquil in 1821; he came -of a Castilian family. His mother trained him -strictly in poverty; a priest, Father Bethencourt, -directed his later education. In 1836 he entered the -University of Quito, and soon became the supervisor -of his own companions—an undergraduate autocrat. -Tall, of a severe aspect, the forehead wide, and the -eyes forceful, he was already revealed as a leader -of men. He devoted himself with ardour to -mathematics and philosophy; he acquired general ideas -and an analytical turn of mind. Endowed with a -prodigious memory and a vigorous dialectic, always -master of himself, he had every desirable gift. -Towards his nineteenth year his chaste youth passed -through a moral crisis. He issued therefrom, according -to his biographer, less the devotee but not less of -a believer. Like Goethe, he made up his mind -abruptly. He would not be guilty of timidity; he -liberated himself from the tutelage of the world by -dint of heroism; he was Mucius Scævola before -he was Cæsar. His fiery spirit and irreducible will -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P216"></a>216}</span> -made him a leader whom all respected, a mystic -whom the conservatives acclaimed. -</p> - -<p> -Garcia-Moreno intervened in politics as a journalist; -he was a satiric poet, and founded various -polemical sheets: <i>El Zurriago</i>, <i>El Vengador</i>, and -<i>El Diablo</i>. He drafted pamphlets, accused and -condemned in prose and in verse, and wrote his classic -<i>Epistle to Fabius</i> concerning the poverty of the times. -His style was steely, energetic, rarely declamatory; -he wrote apostrophes in the manner of Juvenal; -he brought into politics a rude indignation, the -rebellious anger of a Hebrew prophet, announcing -the final catastrophe of democracy; as a journalist -he represented the national interests. In 1846, when -the threat of a Spanish invasion hung over Ecuador, -Garcia-Moreno roused America by his writings. He -was the pacificator of Guayaquil, where the partisans -of Flores had risen in insurrection. -</p> - -<p> -A voyage to Europe brought the young writer into -contact with the social revolution of 1848. The -spectacle of triumphant anarchy re-enforced his -conservative opinions. In Ecuador radicalism -triumphed in 1850; on his return the conservative -leader protected the Jesuits expelled from Colombia, -demanded the return of their property, and authorised -them to found colleges. He published a pamphlet, -<i>Defence of the Jesuits</i>, in which he called them -"the creators of peace and order," and stated with -fearless candour that he was a Catholic and was -proud of the fact. -</p> - -<p> -The military-radical dictatorship of Urbina -devastated the country; the "Tauras," a prætorian guard, -as brutal as the "Mazorqueros" of Rosas, killed and -pillaged, and were the docile servants of tyranny. -Garcia-Moreno then founded the journal <i>La Nación</i>, -and preached the doctrine that there can be no social -progress in a country which does not foster material -progress, and in which a devouring poverty is -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P217"></a>217}</span> -triumphant. He was arrested and exiled. He reached -Europe once more in 1854, and there gave much -time to the study of European politics. He had -been something of a Gallican on the subject of the -relations of Church and State, believing in the -supremacy of the civil power. His opinions changed. -Subscribing to the tradition of those Popes who -aspired to empire, he considered that the Church -should be absolute sovereign above all earthly powers. -But a triumphant radicalism was secularising -ecclesiastical foundations, and convents were being invaded -by the troops. The conservative <i>caudillo</i> returned -from exile in 1856, and was met with every species -of homage; he was elected Mayor of Quito, and -rector of the University. He founded a political -party—that of national union. Elected senator, he -called, with the authority of an avenging tribune, -for honest finances, the suppression of the masonic -lodges, a law of public education, and the abolition -of the poll tax, which burdened the native, and -represented all the forces of social conservation under the -tutelage of the Church. -</p> - -<p> -The Convention of 1860 made him provisional -President, then constitutional President. Garcia-Moreno -inaugurated a clerical semi-dictatorship after -thirty years of revolutions. He did not limit the -suffrage; he depended on the democracy to defeat -unpopular demagogues. He believed that "to -moralise a country one must give it a Catholic -Constitution, and, to ensure the necessary cohesion, a -statute of unity." He organised the finances, the -army, the schools; he reduced the fiscal expenditure; -founded at Quito a Tribunal of Accounts, which -he supervised himself; he waged a pitiless war upon -smuggling, peculation, and bureaucracy; he built -roads connecting the capital with the coast, ruined -militarism, and founded a civil <i>régime</i>. -</p> - -<p> -He was a Catholic President. As in the Colonial -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P218"></a>218}</span> -period, politics centred upon the Church. The clergy -taught and legislated. "The Church," said Garcia-Moreno, -"must march side by side with the civil -power under conditions of true independence." He -entrusted public education to the religious -congregations, and prepared to sign a <i>concordat</i> with the -Church; Catholicism was to be recognised as the -State religion, to the exclusion of all foreign sects -and cults, and the bishops would supervise the -colleges and universities; they would choose the -textbooks to be used, and the government, like the -Spanish Inquisition, would see that no forbidden -works were introduced. The ecclesiastical charter -would be renewed, and as a set-off the government -would annul the <i>exequatur</i>, the authorisation which -the American governments accorded to the -pontifical bulls, that these might be obeyed. More -Catholic than the Sacred College, Garcia-Moreno -insisted upon the reform of the clergy, despite the -hesitation of the Pope. Once the Concordat was -signed; Pius IX. created new dioceses, and ecclesiastical -courts, which tried all causes relating to the -faith—to religious matters in general, and to marriage -and divorce. The conservative leader aspired to a -Catholic Imperialism. He intervened in the domestic -affairs of Colombia, where a radical President was -in power; he eulogised the Mexican Empire, which -was to deliver the country from the "excesses of a -rapacious, immoral and turbulent demagogy." He -dreamed of an America enfeoffed to the Papacy. -</p> - -<p> -Presidents followed him who were weak in the face -of anarchy: Borrero, Carrion, Espinosa. The great -<i>caudillo</i> did not lose his influence; many times he -was forced to leave his retreat in order to pacify a -province or direct a political party. In 1860 he -returned to power, to lay the foundations of a stable -theocracy. His governmental programme read like -an episcopal address. As essential articles appeared -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P219"></a>219}</span> -"the respect and protection of the Catholic Church, -unshakable attachment to the Holy See, education -based on morality and faith, and liberty for all and -in everything, excepting crime and criminals." He -declared that civilisation, "the fruit of Catholicism, -degenerates and becomes impure in proportion as -it departs from Catholic principles"; that "religion -is the sole bond which is left to us in this country, -divided as it is by the interests of parties, races, and -beliefs." The new Constitution was to conform to -the principles of the Syllabus; in Ecuador no one -was to be elected or eligible who did not profess -the Catholic religion, and whosoever should belong -to a sect condemned by the Church would lose his -civil rights. In his mystic ardour, he consecrated -his country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and in -1873 he protested, in a note addressed to the Minister -of Foreign Affairs of the King of Italy, against the -taking of Rome and the confiscation of the Papal -States. His ideal was the monarchy of Philip II.; -the Jesuit Empire of Paraguay; the return of the -Middle Ages, and a conventual peace. Like Rafael -Nuñez and Portales, he believed that "religion is -the only national tradition in these democracies at -the mercy of anarchy—the creative agent, the -instrument of political unity." Religion is the -foundation of morality, and "the absence of morality is -the ruin of the Republic; there are no good manners -and morals without a pure clergy, and a Church free -of all official tutelage." A moralising despot, -he repressed concubinage, and imposed Catholic -marriage or chastity upon his subjects. Virtue, faith, -and order: there was his ideal. -</p> - -<p> -The authoritative Constitution which he promulgated -is analogous to the Chilian statute of 1883. -The President was re-eligible; his mandate was for -ten years; he could govern for a third period after -his immediate successor. The government was at -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P220"></a>220}</span> -the head of the army, and appointed all provincial -authorities; political rebellion was punished as high -treason. The legislative term was six years for -deputies and nine for senators. Garcia-Moreno strictly -observed this new law; he made war upon revolutionaries, -and condemned the leaders of revolts and conspiracies -to death. Internal order re-established, he -commenced a series of vast reforms in the national -finances, in public education, and in legislation; he -opened schools, re-established the death penalty, sent -officers to Prussia to follow the military manoeuvres, -reorganised the school of medicine, founded an -astronomical observatory, and attracted German -Jesuits who were to teach physics and chemistry. -He proved himself a potent organiser: "Twenty-five -years are needed," he said, "to establish my -system." Re-elected in 1875, he was quickly -overthrown by his enemies. He resisted to the death; -the dagger of an enemy struck him down in the -mournful solitude of the <i>plaza</i> of Quito, and he fell -near the cathedral in which he had worshipped. A -long silence, a time of deep mourning, followed the -death of the <i>caudillo</i>; he was named a second -Gregory the Great, the regenerator of his country, -the martyr of Catholic civilisation. -</p> - -<p> -Indefatigable, stoical, just, strong in decision, -admirably logical in his life, Garcia-Moreno was one -of the greatest personalities of American history. -He was no tyrant without doctrines, like Guzman-Blanco -or Porfirio Diaz. In fifteen years (1859-74) -he completely transformed his little country -according to a vast political system which only death -prevented him from realising. A mystic of the Spanish -type, he was not content with sterile contemplation; -he needed action; he was an organiser and a creator. -</p> - -<p> -He felt the aid and the continual presence of God; -he asked his friends for their prayers, and read daily -in <i>The Imitation of Christ</i>. He was even too much -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P221"></a>221}</span> -of a Catholic for the conservatives; he was often -to be seen carrying the daïs in procession. "A -Christian Hercules, a disciple of Charlemagne and -St. Louis," writes Father Berthe, his ingenuous and -enthusiastic biographer. "A hero of Jesus Christ, -not of Plutarch," said Louis Veuillot in a dithyramb; -while his enemies, Montalvo and Moncayo, accused -him of treason, Jesuitism, and cruelty. Montalvo -recognised, however, in the conservative President, -"a sublime intelligence, a superiority to every trial, -a strong, imperious, invincible will." Superior to -exaggerated eulogy and acerbated criticism, Garcia-Moreno -represented the great civilising principles in -the Ecuadorian democracy; unity, the struggle -against a militarism of thirty years' standing, material -progress, religion, morality, and strong government -against licence and demagogy. As an autocrat he -resembled all great American leaders; but he -surpassed them in idealism, by the logic of his actions -and the originality of his essay in theocracy. With -Philip II. and the Paraguayan Jesuits, he believed -Catholicism to be an instrument of culture, and his -policy was for fifteen years the exaltation of that -religion. Only Nuñez and Balmaceda brought -equally coherent ideas to the task of government. -No one in Ecuador, neither Veintemilla, nor Borrero, -nor Alfaro, could gather up the inheritance of this -admirable despot. Carlyle, had he known him, would -have set him in his gallery of heroes. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0403"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P222"></a>222}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III -<br /><br /> - THE ANARCHY OF THE TROPICS—CENTRAL<br /> - AMERICA—HAYTI—SAN DOMINGO<br /> -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Tyrannies and revolutions—The action of climate and -miscegenation—A republic of negroes: Hayti. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -In Central America and the islands of the Antilles -civil wars are the result not merely of racial conflict, -but also of the enervating action of the Tropics. -Precocious, sensual, impressionable, the Americans -of these vast territories devote their energies to local -politics. Industry, commerce, and agriculture are -in a state of decay, and the unruly imagination of -the Creole expends itself in constitutions, programmes, -and lyrical discourse; in these regions anarchy is -sovereign mistress. -</p> - -<p> -Five republics came into being here, which have -lived in a continual state of conflict, their aim being -political domination. Internal disorders and -international wars are continual. Ambitious generals have -sometimes forced a provisional unity upon the -continent, but it is soon divided by the anarchy and -dictatorships which continually overwhelm the soil -of the Tropics. -</p> - -<p> -It is impossible to distinguish a military period -and an industrial period in the history of Central -America. Intellectuals and generals govern alternately, -it is true, but thanks to identical methods; -they all exercise the same sanguinary tutelage. A -few dictators whose rule has been slightly more -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P223"></a>223}</span> -prolonged have at times contrived to increase the -number of schools or develop the national finances, -but personal initiative and the importation of foreign -capital are equally out of the question under the rule -of autocracies which govern solely by grace of the -military element. Liberty, wealth, and human rights -are the appanage of inhuman dictators. -</p> - -<p> -The Republic was proclaimed and the political -Constitution adopted in Central America on the 10th -of April, 1825. It was then that the autonomous -life of the five united provinces commenced. General -Manuel Joseph was the first President of Central -America. The Federal Statute of 1824 attributed -all powers to Congress: it initiated a parliamentary -dictatorship. As against the popular assembly the -Executive was powerless, and the Senate, to which -the Constitution confided the final sanction of the -laws promulgated by Congress, was weak in point -of numbers. As in all republics, the government -was popular, representative, and federal. The -equality of all citizens and the abolition of slavery -being decreed, it was a new era that opened, liberal -and romantic. -</p> - -<p> -In the Lower Chamber Guatemala had the -majority, and from this superiority ensued a tendency -to political domination which provoked a long series -of internal wars. Here was no conflict of nations, -but of the interests of rival provinces or the quarrels -of individual generals. Salvador wished to realise -its autonomy; a virile and well-peopled republic, -she could not readily accept the hegemony of -Guatemala. Here is one aspect of this monotonous -history: the frequent wars which divided Guatemala -and Salvador. They struggled for supremacy, for -moral tutelage. The federal tie survived, and the -Assemblies multiplied; there were General Assemblies -and Provisional Assemblies. Suddenly one of the -States declared void the pact which united it to the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P224"></a>224}</span> -other republics: Congress was dissolved, and at once -re-elected. There was a perpetual confusion of -powers. -</p> - -<p> -During the first twenty years of liberty the -anarchical instinct which sought to separate the -republics and the calm reason which sought to unite -them under the pressure of powerful traditions were -in mutual conflict. It was the conflict of nationalism -and unity. As in Chili the Carreras opposed the -authority of San Martin, as in Venezuela Paez rebelled -against the unification of Bolivar, so Carrera the -Guatemalan general warred against Morazan, the -<i>caudillo</i> of the Unitarian party, during twelve years -of a struggle of province with province. -</p> - -<p> -However, the States separated one from another, -and united anew under the domination of a theoretical -federation; men still legislated in Congresses, and -built the future nation with the ardour of Jacobins: -eleven Assemblies of the Confederation prepared codes -and statutes. One essential trait of the new laws was -their secular spirit, and their tendency to aggressive -action against the clergy. Even sooner than Mexico -these assemblies promulgated the laws of the -Reformation; even before the era of religious quarrels -opened in Colombia the radical fervour which was -contemporary with the liberalism of Rivadavia was -at work in Central America. For that matter, it -appeared to be a remnant of the old "regalism." In -1829 the Assembly suppressed all convents of -monks; in 1830 Honduras declared that secular -priests might marry; in Guatemala it was enacted that -the sons of members of the clergy ordained <i>in sacris</i> -were necessarily their heirs. In 1832 toleration was -proclaimed, but, on the other hand, the States were -continually fighting over the question of patronage, -and the antagonism between the State, which wished -to impose its tutelage, and the rebellious Church was -perpetual. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P225"></a>225}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Two influences dominated the minds of the new -law-makers: English utilitarianism and Yankee -federalism. Here French ideas were not predominant. -But the tropical republics could not assimilate the -severe English doctrine. In vain, in 1832, did -Congress go into mourning on the occasion of the -death of Bentham; in vain was absolute liberty of -testimony proclaimed in Guatemala. The double and -inevitable influence of tradition and race cannot be -destroyed by means of improvised laws. -</p> - -<p> -Central America borrowed from the United States -their mode of suffrage, the federal system, the -organisation of the jury, and the codes of Louisiana. -But popular agitation condemned the institution of -the jury; the codes borrowed from the United States -did not annihilate barbarism, and the federal system -was powerless to enforce unity. -</p> - -<p> -In 1842 this troublous Confederation of sister -nations was dissolved. Once these nations were -definitely separated, what we may call the period -of provincial history commenced; it was confused, -yet identical in the case of the various States. Above -the anarchical multitude rose energetic <i>caudillos</i>; -necessary tyrants, who endeavoured to enforce order -in the interior, and to organise the national -finances. -</p> - -<p> -The history of Costa Rica forms the only exception -among these republics oscillating between tyranny -and demagogy. In this country were no clearly -divided social castes, no great capitalists, and no -crowds of proletariats. A small homogeneous State, -in which men were always known as <i>hermanicos</i> -("brotherlies") because their interests and their -ideas were identical, Costa Rica seemed to justify -the classic idea which associated the success of -the republican system with limited territories and -small human groups. Work, unity, and lasting peace -have been the characteristics of social evolution in -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P226"></a>226}</span> -Costa Rica. While neighbouring States were at war -this tiny republic was progressing peacefully. -</p> - -<p> -Salvador also developed normally without the -discords of Nicaragua or Guatemala. Race explains -the differences to be observed in these great theatres -of political experience; in Salvador and Costa Rica -the Spanish element was predominant, the castes -were confounded, the population was dense, and the -birth-rate high. In Honduras mulattos abounded, -and in Nicaragua and Guatemala the races were -mixed, and the Indians were superior in point of -numbers. Among these five tropical republics those -which progressed were those in which the race was -homogeneous, or in which the Iberian conquerors -outnumbered the Indians, negroes, and mulattos. -</p> - -<p> -The very tropical anarchy which has turned Central -America into a perpetual theatre of civil wars has -also continually divided the two zones of the ancient -Hispaniola: San Domingo and Hayti. In the one -the Spaniards ruled, in the other the French, and the -antagonism of these two Powers was of long duration. -Hayti is a negro State, and San Domingo refused -to submit to the tyranny of ex-slaves. Conflicts -of a political origin were supplemented by the -warfare of castes. Caudillos and tyrants have succeeded -one another in the government; revolutions and -domestic wars have continually troubled these two -small States, over which the United States have -gradually extended their tutelage. -</p> - -<p> -As early as the seventeenth century the French were -established in Hispaniola, on the northern coast; -bold Normans, herdsmen and shepherds, the -celebrated buccaneers, had founded a kind of forest -republic ruled by special laws. In 1691 this -territory was a French colony, and in 1726 it contained -30,000 free inhabitants and 100,000 slaves, black -or mulatto. The Creoles, according to the chroniclers -of the time, were proud and inconstant, idle and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P227"></a>227}</span> -sceptical as to religion. The negroes, chiefly occupied -in servile labour, superstitious and imprudent, formed -the bulk of the slaves. A Jesuit, Father Charlevoix, -who had observed them, wrote in 1725: "Properly -speaking we may say that the negroes between Cap -Blanc and Cap Noir have been born only for -slavery."[<a id="chap0403fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0403fn1">1</a>] It was said that the negroes were wont -to celebrate the rites of a secret worship in the forest, -and were preparing to fight for their liberty. They -hated the other castes, the whites, the free negroes, -and the mulattos; and the Hayti of the future was -born of this racial hatred. Ex-slaves governed the -isle, and found in bloody hecatombs revenge for -their long servitude. These formed the oligarchy, an -intolerable and intolerant aristocracy, inimical to -whites and mulattos. Like the revolts of slaves in the -ancient world, these rebellions of American serfs were -the occasion of wars of extermination. The French -Revolution provoked them by its Utopian liberalism: -Mirabeau and Lafayette were friends of the negro, -and the Convention decreed the abolition of slavery -in the colonies in 1794. The slaves had risen -already, in 1791, at the first rumours of the risings -in France, burning property and killing their rulers. -</p> - -<p> -They therefore attained political and civil liberty -suddenly, with no prudent transitions. A <i>caudillo</i>, -Toussaint Louverture, was the hero of the war of -liberation. The metropolis made this ex-coachman a -general. Sober and active, crafty and patriotic, he -aspired to seize the reins of government; he expelled -the English and fought against the people of colour -who were led by General Rigaud; he was the -indomitable defender of his race. The slaves regarded -him as a tutelary deity; they thought him inspired; -he gradually became the fetish of a superstitious -caste. In 1801 an Assembly elected him governor -for life; but he did not renounce the protection of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P228"></a>228}</span> -France. In vain did his adulators call him the -Napoleon of the negroes; he did not aspire to -absolute rule. He organised an army and set the -finances in order; he proved a vigilant administrator. -Like the dictator Francia in Paraguay, he -forced his people to work by strict regulations; he -prosecuted vagabonds, won the esteem of the whites, -and introduced a severe morality into matters of -finance. -</p> - -<p> -Napoleon wished to reconquer the emancipated -colony, and sent a strong army against it. The -negroes rallied round their chief, and offered a heroic -resistance; finally the French withdrew, and -abandoned the island to the ex-slaves. In 1825 the -metropolis recognised the independence of Hayti. -</p> - -<p> -The Constitution of the new republic was promulgated -in 1801. Without disdaining the suzerainty of -France, which had prematurely abolished slavery, the -negroes made laws intended to establish a democracy; -they organised municipalities, and recognised -Catholicism as the State religion. They recognised -that labour, painful as it is to an indolent nation, is -yet obligatory. From this time forward the history -of Hayti is a perpetual succession of civil wars and -dictatorships. Liberal laws were given to a caste -habituated to slavery. Pétion, who was honoured -by the friendship of Bolivar, was President in 1807; -he applied himself more especially to the education of -his people, and was called the father of his country; -his government was a period of peace between two -crises of vandalism. Before him the successor of -Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines, had ordered the -killing of all the whites, and had commenced a -disastrous racial war. Nothing could be more hateful -to the ex-slaves than the aristocracy of the skin; -neither whites nor mulattos escaped the fury of the -rulers. The integrity of the negro race was the -ideal of these ferocious dictators. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P229"></a>229}</span> -</p> - -<p> -No South American republic had to suffer such -ill-augured tyrannies as those of Hayti; no -autocracy was so formidable as that of these ex-slaves, -whose leaders were notable amateurs of pageantry -and bloodshed. Soulouque, the sworn enemy of the -mulattos, proclaimed himself Emperor in 1849, -taking the name of Faustinus I., and surrounding -himself with a grotesquely ambitious court: he was -the most execrable of despots. The Republic was -re-established in 1859, and the monotonous sequence -of servile coxcombs who made use of their power to -gratify their passion for extermination recommenced: -civil wars, international wars, assassinations, and -massacres filled the bloodstained chronicles of the isle. -The Haytian rulers exercised a harsh domination -over San Domingo, where mulattos abounded and -the Spanish tradition was not extinct; the negro -invasion exiled the Dominican writers, destroyed the -culture of the university, and swept like a wave of -barbarism into the brilliant colony. -</p> - -<p> -The Dominicans abhorred their long servitude, -and, despite the terrible reprisals of their rulers, they -prepared in silence for liberation. In 1821 Nuñez -de Caceres declared San Domingo to be separated -from Spain, and demanded protection of Colombia; -the President of Hayti, Boyer, could not permit this -unexpected autonomy, and sent an army to occupy -the capital of the new republic. After a long period -of secret preparation another group of patriots again -proclaimed the independence of San Domingo, and -in 1844 a movement which coincided with the revolt -of the Haytian liberals against the tyranny of Boyer. -This campaign, known as "the Revolt," was directed -by an impassioned ideologist, Juan-Pablo Duarte, -who was surrounded by intellectuals and men of -action. The traditional oppressors were vanquished, -and the victors proclaimed that "the peoples of the -ancient Spanish portion, in vindication of their rights -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P230"></a>230}</span> -and desiring to provide for their own welfare and -future happiness in a just and legal manner, have -formed themselves into a free, independent, and -sovereign State." -</p> - -<p> -In winning her autonomy San Domingo did not -realise the dream of the strict republicans. Her -history is less troubled than that of Hayti, and -education and literature have attained an astonishing -development in the old Spanish colony, but political -life has been indecisive and full of revolutionary -upheavals, as in the other democracies of South -America. Perhaps we must attribute to the great -number of mulattos, always incapable of self-government, -or to the long duration of the Haytian domination, -the anarchy of this, one of the youngest of the -overseas republics. After 1844, the year of -liberation, Santana, a half-breed dictator, cunning, -uncultured, and implacable in hatred, retained the -supreme power. The Februarists were at the head -of the revolution known as the Reformation—Duarte, -Mella, Sanchez—noble idealists in love with the idea -of democracy. However, a <i>caudillo</i> profited by this -movement of regeneration, overruling the ideologists -in the name of practical despotism. "Februarism," -said a remarkable Dominican thinker, "that is to -say, the constitution of a free government founded -upon equity, without <i>caciquism</i> and without the -shameful fetters which sometimes limit the exercise -of sovereignty, has predominated for too short a -time on two or three occasions of our national life. -On the contrary, Santanism—that is, personal -autocracy, rigid and stifling, such as characterised the -entire policy of Santana, and which has been practised -since his time by nearly all our rulers, attenuated in -some cases and in others exasperated—Santanism -seems to have deep and inextricable roots."[<a id="chap0403fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0403fn2">2</a>] -</p> - -<p> -But is it not the fact that despotism is the necessary -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P231"></a>231}</span> -form of all government in these republics, where the -division of castes opposes unity and the normal -development of nationality? The future of Haytians -and Dominicans both is full of grave problems: -among the first we find poetry, imagination, a high -state of culture, but political evolution is very slow. -The peoples of the Tropics seem incapable of order, -laborious patience, and method; so that the prodigal -literature of San Domingo forms a striking contrast -to the archaic quality of its political life. "Its -geographical situation," says Señor Garcia Godoy, -"places it almost at the mercy of North American -imperialism." Hayti is still a barbarous democracy. -It is not easy to turn a colony of negro slaves into -an orderly and prosperous republic merely by virtue -of political charters of foreign origin; and it has -not been proved that parliamentarism, municipal life, -and the classic division of powers, the creation of -the East, form an adequate system of government -for negroes and mulattos. In vain did General -Légitime, once President of Hayti, affirm that had -they been properly encouraged and directed, his -people would already have arrived at "the highest -degree of prosperity and civilisation"; in vain did -he pretend that the decadence of his country was due -not to a question of race but to a problem of social -economy: excess of taxation and paper money. -Hayti possesses immense natural wealth, yet the taxes -are crushing, the railways go bankrupt, labourers -emigrate, and agriculture and industry are dwindling, -as the General recognised; all because the indolence -of the race does not permit it to take advantage of -the fertility of the soil nor to govern itself. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0403fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0403fn1text">1</a>] <i>Histoire de l'Isle cspagnole</i>, Amsterdam, 1733, -vol. iv. p. 362. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0403fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0403fn2text">2</a>] <i>Rufinito</i>, by F. Garcia Godoy, Santo Domingo, 1908, -pp. 53, 54. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0501"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P233"></a>233}</span></p> - -<h2> -BOOK V -</h2> - -<p class="t3b"> -<i>INTELLECTUAL EVOLUTION</i> -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -Spain founded universities in America, where she -exercised a true monopoly of ideas. The Revolution -in her colonies was inspired by the doctrines -of the French Encyclopædists. Since then—that -is, during the whole of the nineteenth century—the -metropolis has been losing the greater portion -of her ancient intellectual privileges. Political -and literary ideas, romanticism and liberalism, -faith in reason and poetic enthusiasm, all these -have been imported from France. It is interesting -to study the results of this lasting influence in -philosophy and letters. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P235"></a>235}</span> -</p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I -<br /><br /> -POLITICAL IDEOLOGY -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Conservatives and -liberals—Lastarria—Bilbao—Echeverria—Montalvo—Vigil—The -Revolution of 1848 and its influence in -America—English ideas: Bello, Alberdi—The educationists. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The revolutionists of America hastily sought for an -ideology which should ratify their victory. By virtue -of French ideas they had demolished an ancient -organisation, had thrown off the Spanish tyranny, and -had exalted anarchy in speech and in verse. To raise -future cities in the wilderness they had need of a -political gospel. -</p> - -<p> -They founded the Republic, imported institutions -from abroad, and granted all the political liberties -to an amorphous crowd. The first disputes were -already audible between the defenders of the old -order and the radicals who sought to destroy it; -conservatives and liberals appeared at an identical -moment of republican life. Militarism, revolutions, -and the warfare of <i>caudillos</i> were in part explained -by the profound differences between the champions -of tradition and the soldiers of liberty. -</p> - -<p> -Dominated by the need to live, these nations -created a political philosophy. They disregarded -criticism and analysis; they affirmed and -constructed; they required a faith as intolerant as the -archaic dogmas. Democracy and liberalism were -the essential articles of this secular religion. To the -eyes of the new orthodoxy the convictions of the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P236"></a>236}</span> -monarchists and absolutists were dangerous heresies: -royalists were prosecuted as free-thinkers had been -of old. Thought was not divorced from action. It -reflected the political unrest; it prepared or justified -political transformations. A species of pragmatism -was characteristic of American thought. Poetry was -rhymed oratory, lyrical declamation; the poet -condemned any form of civil autocracy; he execrated -tyrants, or evoked ingenuous liberties; he could not -conceive of pure thought as divorced from life. -Alberdi, an Argentine thinker, wrote: "Philosophy -is meant for politics, morality, industry, and history, -and if it does not serve them it is a puerile and a -trifling science." He condemned the analysis of the -eighteenth century, which "dissolves and corrupts -everything"; to vain ideology, to the question -whether "ideas and sensations, memory and reminiscence -are distinct faculties," he preferred "an Argentine -philosophy in which are distilled the social and -moral needs of our country; a clear, democratic, -progressive, and popular philosophy, with ideas like -those of Condorcet; human perfectibility, continual -progress of the human species; a philosophy which -inspires men with the love of country and the love of -humanity." -</p> - -<p> -The champions of liberalism defined the principles -of the new social state; they were brilliant -commentators, their subject being the ideas of French and -Spanish philosophy. Their action in a society -in which the old colonial prejudices were still -triumphant was categorical and magistral. They -created institutions and laws, and applied foreign -doctrines to the troubles of the time. Sometimes -they seemed inspired in the Biblical sense; they -prophesied and condemned, as did Bilbao and -Echeverria. -</p> - -<p> -Lastarria, Bilbao, Montalvo, Vigil, and Sarmiento -were the leading figures of this romantic period; -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P237"></a>237}</span> -with them intellectual activity was inseparable from -politics. Lastarria and Bilbao opposed the -authoritarianism of Chili; Montalvo and Vigil -respectively, the clericalism of Ecuador and Peru; -Sarmiento, the tyranny of Rosas. Their works were -pamphlets, their theories were always practical: criticisms -of contemporary reality, or constructive sketches -of the State of the future. -</p> - -<p> -Lastarria and Bilbao were the professors of -liberalism in Chili. The liberalism of the first was -tempered by the influence of Comte, and the study of -philosophy and history; that of the second, -indisciplined and prophetic, was eventually the bitter -protest of a misunderstood evangelist. -</p> - -<p> -Lastarria was the great Chilian reformer, as Bello -was the prudent master who disciplined youth and -defended tradition and the classic ideology. He was, -like Bilbao, a pupil of Bello's, but to the conservative -doctrines of the latter he opposed a generous -liberalism. He was professor of legislation at the -National Institute of Santiago from 1841, and from -his professorial chair he criticised Chilian laws and -prejudices. At first he followed Bentham in his -lectures on constitutional law, and then the French -liberals. He was influenced by Herder, by Edgar -Quinet, a jurist and a disciple of Krause, and by -Ahrens. Finally he accepted certain ideas of -Comte's—for instance, the theory of the Three Estates—and -endeavoured to reconcile his teaching with that -of John Stuart Mill, Toqueville, and Laboulaye. -</p> - -<p> -He believed, as did the romantics, in indefinite -progress, liberty, universal harmony, and the power -of man as against the inevitability of physical laws; -in 1846 his political studies won the eulogy of Edgar -Quinet. From a liberal standpoint he studied the -evolution of Chili from the Conquest to the Republic. -</p> - -<p> -In the defence of his political faith the professor -intervened in the struggles of his country; academic -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P238"></a>238}</span> -dissertations did not satisfy him; he felt the need -of action, of parliamentary agitation. As deputy and -publicist he opposed the influence of Portales, the -representative of the Chilian oligarchy, and the -Constitution of 1833, that admirable piece of conservative -legislation. "The State," said Lastarria, "has for -its object the respect of the rights of the individual: -there is the limit of its action." Portales, on the other -hand, considered a strong central authority, a stern -tutelage, to be a necessity in the South American -republics, subject as they were to crises of anarchy. -Liberty seemed to him a premature gift where the -crowd was concerned. Lastarria opposed the positive -work of the dictator by a vague idealism: liberty of -conscience, of work, of association; an executive -powerless to limit these liberties; municipal -government, federation—such were the fundamental items of -his propaganda. In the generality of American -constitutions he disapproved of the vague definition of -individual rights, the attributions of the public powers, -the irresponsibility of these latter, and the amalgamation -of colonial political forms with the administrative -centralisation of the French <i>régime</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Two Presidents, Bulnes and Montt, from 1841 to -1861, continued the despotic system founded by -Portales; against them the liberal professor -commenced his magnificent campaign. He was exiled -in 1850. He travelled, and continued to publish his -political writings. He had studied Comte, Mill, and -Toqueville, and he now completed his education in -certain directions. His next book, <i>Lessons in -Positivist Politics</i> (1874), applied the principles of the -Positivist school to the evolution of South America -and to Chilian history in particular. He studied the -organisation of the powers of the State, of society, and -government, and abandoned his former radicalism. -He recognised the fact that where Catholicism is the -religion of the majority (as in Chili) the State may -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P239"></a>239}</span> -protect the national Church while exercising the -moderate supervision that is known as "patronage." -</p> - -<p> -Lastarria influenced the destinies of Chili. At his -death the liberals came into power, and politicians -like Santa-Maria and Balmaceda, who supported -liberal legislation, may be regarded as disciples of -the author of <i>Positivist Politics</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Lastarria was a politician, Bilbao an apocalyptic -dreamer. He founded the "Society of Equality," -which was a democratic club. A generous and -radical nature, he criticised, in a celebrated article on -<i>Chilian Sociability</i> (1844), "the tradition, the ancient -authority, the faith, the servile customs, the national -apathy, the dogma of blind obedience, the respect for -the established order, the hatred of innovation, and -the persecution of the innovator," which he deplored -in his native country. He gave a pitiless analysis -of Chilian prejudices, and studied the national -problems—commerce, education, marriage, taxation, -the functions of Church and State—and answered -them in a democratic sense. He was accused of -immorality, blasphemy, and sedition. He also -attacked the Constitution of 1833, and the minister -Montt could not forgive him for this liberal campaign. -Ten years later Bilbao was exiled for his leanings -toward anarchy, and in Paris he became acquainted -with Quinet and Lamennais, the evangelists of his -democratic faith. In 1880, on his return to Chili, -he resumed his inflammatory courses. -</p> - -<p> -Montalvo in Ecuador represented the same liberal -effort as Bilbao and Lastarria. But this democrat -had read Montaigne and Voltaire; he was a master -of satire, irony, and sarcasm. His contradictory -nature united Lamartine's faith in democracy with -the scepticism of the eighteenth century. He was not -a politician merely, but a man of letters. His wide -culture was revealed by the multiple forms in which -his intellectual activity found an outlet. As an -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P240"></a>240}</span> -essayist, by his lyrical disorder, he recalled Carlyle. -His harsh criticism of the national clergy in <i>La -Mercurial Eclesiastica</i> is as lively as an Italian <i>conte</i>. -He imitated Cervantes with perfection; he could -make a clever pastiche of <i>Don Quixote</i>. He knew -his Byron, Milton, Lamartine, Racine, and the Latin -and Spanish classics, and would have been the -completest type of the humanist which the Latin New -World has produced had not his restless spirit yielded -too readily to the solicitations of politics. -</p> - -<p> -In contrast to Garcia-Moreno, the Catholic dictator, -Montalvo was the liberal free-lance; he could not -forgive the <i>caudillo</i> his long tyranny, his intolerant -faith, his submission to the Pope as a supreme -monarch. The Ecuadorian polemist believed in -liberty and the republic; he detested the theocracy -implanted by the Christian President. -</p> - -<p> -But his activities were not destructive; Montalvo -was a believer in the manner of the revolutionists of -1848. "A sane and pure democracy has need of -Jesus Christ," he wrote in his liberal enthusiasm; -he loved Christianity because it was the religion of -the democracy. Democracy would be the law of the -nations "if some day the spirit of the Gospel were -to prevail." He eulogised the stoicism and virtue -of the Roman Republic, in the image of which he -wished to construct the Chilian democracy, and in -a magnificent essay he exalted the nobility of these -qualities. He was not a radical like Bilbao; a -forerunner of pragmatism, he accepted all useful ideas, -even Catholicism, so that it did not become a political -tyranny. "There is nothing to be gained by attacking -certain beliefs," he wrote, "which by virtue of -being general and useful to all will eventually become -verities, even if the curious and courageous investigation -of bygone things could constitute a motive for -doubting them." -</p> - -<p> -An American thinker, he applied Latin ideas to -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P241"></a>241}</span> -the affairs of the continent. In his <i>Seven Treaties</i>, -his capital work, are some superb passages upon -the heroes of South American emancipation. His -cult was that of Carlyle, religious and full of lyrical -passion. "In what is he inferior to the great men -of antiquity?" he asks of Bolivar. "Only in this, -that no long centuries flow between us, for only time, -the great master, can distil in his magic laboratory -the chrism with which the princes of nature are -anointed." He traces a parallel between Bolivar -and Napoleon, between Bolivar and Washington. -"In Napoleon there is something more than in other -men; a sense, a wheel in the mechanism of understanding, -a fibre in the heart. He looks across the -world from the Apennines to the Pillars of Hercules, -from the pyramids of Egypt to the snows of Russia. -Kings tremble, pallid, and half-lifeless; thrones crack -and crumble; the nations look up and regard him -and are afraid, and bend the knee before the -giant." Montalvo admires Napoleon, but he judges Bolivar -the superior, because the work of the former was -destroyed by mankind, while the work of the latter -still prospers. "He who realises great and lasting -undertakings is greater than he who realises only -great and ephemeral things." -</p> - -<p> -Montalvo believed in the American race, in the -mestizos, "in the high, lofty spirit and the stout heart -which make the aristocracy of South America." His -prophetic enthusiasm exalts the future inhabitants of -America, "who will be our descendants when the -traveller shall sadly seat himself to meditate upon -the ruins of the Louvre, the Vatican, or St. Paul's." To -his work of criticism of Garcia-Moreno and the -clericals we must add this religious Americanism, -this tenacious faith in the destinies of the democracy. -</p> - -<p> -Without the lyric fervour of Montalvo, heavy and -dusty as an ancient palimpsest, Vigil represents the -struggle of Peruvian liberalism against the power of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P242"></a>242}</span> -the Church. Born in 1792, he was a priest, and -abandoned his calling, but without retaining, like -Renan, the unction of the seminarist. A stoic in his -life, the champion of liberty in several Congresses, -he devoted his riper years to a long campaign against -ecclesiastical privilege. His admirable erudition -served him in this propaganda. He defended the -State against the encroachments of the clergy. An -idealist, he preached universal peace, the union of -all American nations, and expounded the excellencies -of the democracy, in whose Christian virtues he, like -Montalvo, firmly believed. He won respect, as did -Bilbao, by the austerity of his life and the sincerity -of his exhortations: a Socratic master whose life -was harmonious as a poem. -</p> - -<p> -An Argentine thinker, genial and tumultuous, -Sarmiento represented a liberalism less coherent than -that of Echeverria, but as a champion of the ideal -and the intellectual life in the democracy tyrannised -over by Rosas he deserves to be placed beside -Lastarria and Montalvo. Menendez Pelayo called -him the <i>gaucho</i> of the Republic of Letters; for his -pugnacious individuality, his barbaric impetuosity, and -his semi-culture, which was mitigated by admirable -intuition, were inimical to all classic order or -discipline. Sarmiento was a romantic by temperament; -he attacked Spanish culture in the name of French -liberalism, and condemned tradition, which led to -slavery; he believed in the virtuality of ideas, the -mission of education, and the greatness of democracy. -He applied to the United States for models of popular -education, and for political examples of federal life. -He was a teacher, a journalist, a pamphleteer, and -a President. -</p> - -<p> -He analysed Argentine life and the American -revolutions; in 1845 he published <i>El Facundo</i>, an -evocation of the Argentine civil wars, with all the -passion and lyrical fervour of a Michelet. Sarmiento -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P243"></a>243}</span> -was the enemy of Rosas, as Montalvo was the eloquent -rival of Garcia-Moreno. In <i>El Facundo</i> are pages -of pitiless criticism of the tyranny of the federal -<i>caudillo</i>. Exiled, he founded a review in Chili, in -1842, in which he still attacked Rosas, but he did -not confine himself to ephemeral journalism. He -discovered eternal elements in the battles of the time; -he studied the American man and the American soil, -as in the prologue to <i>El Facundo</i>. He then studied -the racial problem, and in another book described -the ideal republic of which he dreamed. His work -is profoundly American. -</p> - -<p> -American liberalism, between 1830 and 1860, was -inspired by French ideas. One revolution, that of -1789, explained in part the movement for the -conquest of political liberty. Another, that of 1848, -found echoes even in these distant democracies, and -disturbed them by the insinuating eloquence of a -new gospel. A curious parallelism may be observed -between the claims of French socialism and American -radicalism. -</p> - -<p> -In France the Revolution of 1848 had not only -a political tendency, but also a social aspect. An -extension of electoral capacity was desired, and the -right to work was proclaimed; men fought for the -sovereignty of the people, and workshops were -founded in which the State assured the subsistence -of the working-classes. While the republican parties -were fighting against the monarchy of Louis Philippe, -Icarians and Communists were preparing for the -social revolution; the proletariat was rising against -the <i>bourgeoisie</i>, as the Third Estate rose against -the nobility of old. A note of equalitarian fervour -was noticeable in the protest of the crowd. The -leaders of the movement against Guizot and his -oligarchy of property-owners were socialists: Louis -Blanc, Pierre Leroux, Blanqui, and Ledru-Rollin; -they supplemented their democratic victories by a -programme of social reform. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P244"></a>244}</span> -</p> - -<p> -In Latin America the Revolution was chiefly -political; it demanded the suffrage, equality before -the law, and respect for political rights, and it -condemned the excesses of authority. It did not forget -to make a social protest, but the conflict of classes -was not as yet very violent. -</p> - -<p> -"The Revolution of 1848 was loudly echoed in -Chili," wrote the historian Vicuña-Mackenna. To -combat the oligarchy the young Lastarria brothers, -Bilbao, the Amunategui, the three Mattas, the three -Blests, Santiago Arcos, and Diego Barros-Arana -founded the "Society of Equality," a secret club, "to -save the people from the shameful tutelage to which -it has been subjected."[<a id="chap0501fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0501fn1">1</a>] -</p> - -<p> -This tutelage was more especially political; for -this reason the club proclaimed democratic principles: -the sovereignty of reason, the sovereignty of the -people, and universal love and brotherhood. These -young men opened schools for the people. Lillo -published a translation of <i>The Words of a Believer</i>, -by Lamennais, which served the radical circle for -their Bible. -</p> - -<p> -But the real master of the new generation in Chili -and in the other democracies was Lamartine. "From -1848 to 1858 he was a demi-god, a second Moses," -wrote a historian. The "young men" formed a -commentary upon the <i>History of the Girondists</i>. They -imitated the great figures of the French Revolution: -Bilbao was Vergniaud; Santiago Arcos, Marat; -Lastarria, Brissot. Societies were formed, -congresses were held; one exalted group called itself -<i>The Mountain</i>. -</p> - -<p> -In Venezuela, in 1846, a demagogue by the name -of Antonio Leocadio Guzman offered the people the -abolition of slavery and the repartition of the soil; he -led a revolution against society and the Government. -In Colombia the liberal Constitution of 1853 was an -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P245"></a>245}</span> -echo of the French Revolution of 1848, and democratic -clubs were formed as in Chili. They ruled the -country by means of terror, were predominant in -the journals, and propagated socialism and hatred of -the oligarchy of property-owners and the omnipotent -clergy. The liberals evoked Christ as the first -democrat, whence the faction known as <i>Golgotha</i>. -Anarchy increased in the provinces. Bishops and -conservative notabilities were pursued, the Jesuits -were expelled, and in 1851 the slaves were freed. -A discontent of long standing was revealed by the -activities of these eloquent revolutionaries, who -imitated, like the Chilian Girondists, the French -politicians of the Revolution. -</p> - -<p> -"Democracy," Lamartine had said in 1848, "is, -in principle, the direct reign of God." His ideal was -an equalitarian Republic. His political ideas were -drawn from the New Testament; he saw in the -French Revolution "a Divine and holy thought." Charity, -the protection of the disinherited, equality, -and fraternity—in short the whole democratic creed—was -merely the application of Christian ideas to the -world of politics. Lamartine wrote in defence of -all the liberties, and wished the Government to be -"an instrument of God." We can understand what -enthusiasm this eloquence, impregnated as it was -with idealism and the love of humanity, must have -produced in America; we find the accents of -Lamartine echoed in the words of Montalvo as well -as Bilbao. Anarchy presently became a sort of -mystic rebellion against tyrants. Throughout all -South America Lamartine and the Revolution of -1848 inspired men's speech or writings, and -engendered revolutions or fresh tyrannies. -</p> - -<p> -The influence of France was sovereign. The -influence of Guizot and the doctrinaires must be added -to that of Lamartine. English ideas also were -prevalent; Bentham was the great authority on -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P246"></a>246}</span> -political science from the earliest years of the -Republic; at his death the Central American -Congress, which had followed his teaching, proclaimed a -period of mourning. In Colombia General Santander -quoted against Bolivar phrases inspired by English -radicalism and by Destutt de Tracy. Bentham -harshly criticised the <i>Contrat Social</i> of Rousseau, and -his pretended "natural rights"; policy he based -upon the happiness of the greatest number. Tracy -professed a moderate relativism, and utilitarian ideas, -like Bentham. Bolivar, unlike these professors of -individualism, believed in the benefits of a moral -dictatorship. -</p> - -<p> -Bello again represented English thought, not only -in his philosophical work, but also in his writings as -jurist. He was, like the classic legislators, the creator -of the written law. His civil code, promulgated in -Chili in 1855, served other nations as a model, and -his <i>Law of Nations</i> became the international law of -South America. He was born into the world for -the purpose of pouring language as well as law into -logical moulds. In his legislative work he displayed -a severe analysis, a British prudence, and a constant -recognition of social realities. He hated the vague -and the nebulous, and liked to express his ideas in -clear, concrete formulæ; he brought to the solution -of social problems a solid common sense. -</p> - -<p> -Alberdi also adopted British methods and ideas. -In France he especially admired Guizot, and -distrusted Lamartine. He attacked the sterile -intellectualism of his fellow-Americans, and wrote in -defence of Protestantism, a religion peculiarly -appropriate to republics on a Catholic continent. He -believed in the English constitutional monarchy, in -the benefits of technical schools, and in the disastrous -effects of a parasitical scholarship; he preferred -strong governments, like that of Chili, and detested -demagogues. "The Republic," he wrote, "has been -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P247"></a>247}</span> -and is still the bread of Presidents, the trade of -soldiers, the industry of lawyers without causes, and -journalists without talent; the refuge of the second-rate -of every species, and the machine for the amalgamation -of all the dross of society." Such was his -verdict on the political system of South America. -</p> - -<p> -He called for a monarchy as the only salvation -of the country: "thus the Republics might unite -themselves to Europe, whence their riches and their -civilisation derive, and resist the monopoly of North -America." From European influence he hoped to -obtain not only culture, but also the consecration of -political independence. He begged the Old World -for emigrants, for capital, and for princes. In an -admirable volume published in 1858 he analysed -the "bases" of the Argentine organisation. This -book was no Latin gospel; with the "relativity" -of an Anglo-Saxon he proposed practical solutions; -he ascribed supremacy to population, strong governments, -laborious immigrants, and industrial wealth; -he disdained the ideology of the revolutionists, and -their implacable Jacobinism. His effort may be -compared to that of Burke in his criticism of the French -Revolution. Amid the sterile enthusiasm of romantic -politicians his book stands out, in its gravity, sobriety, -common sense, and realism, like a lesson for all time. -</p> - -<p> -Other American conservatives were Lucas Alaman, -leader of the Mexican conservatives and author of a -fine history of his country; Bartolome Herrera, a -follower of Guizot, in Peru; Cecilio Acosta, in -Venezuela: these were in agreement with Alberdi upon -certain points of his ample doctrine. Like the -Argentine, Acosta wished to see more elementary and -secondary schools and fewer universities, to find -"practical knowledge replacing a parchment scholarship; -free speech and thought the fetters of the -peripatetic school; and generalisation, casuistry." The -jurists obeyed the same tendency; they were -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P248"></a>248}</span> -positive and analytic spirits; they brought clarity and -discipline to an incoherent politics. Among them -we may cite, after Bello, Calvo, Garcia Calderon, -Velez Sarsfield, and Ambrosio Montt. They opposed -the ineffectual Constitutions of the precisians. -</p> - -<p> -Liberal idealism vanquished conservative good -sense. Lastarria attracted impetuous youth more -than Bello and Alberdi; Guizot had few readers; -Lamartine and Benjamin-Constant were popular. -Liberalism, radicalism, Jacobinism: these were the -various disguises of South American anarchy. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0501fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0501fn1text">1</a>] Za piola, <i>La Sociedad de la Igualdad</i>, Santiago, 1902, p. 8. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0502"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P249"></a>249}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II -<br /><br /> -THE LITERATURE OF THE YOUNG DEMOCRACIES -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Spanish classicism and French romanticism—Their influence in -America—Modernism—The work of Ruben Dario—The -novel—The <i>conte</i> or short story -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The ancient Spanish colonies, freed from the political -authority of Spain, still followed her in the matter -of literature; republican autonomy and intellectual -subjection were not incompatible. Towards 1825 -writers in prose and verse were by no means imitating -France, although she gave them her declamatory -politics and her revolutionary code. Educated in -Spain, the best minds were seeking their inspiration -in the Spanish literature of the eighteenth century: -the works of the classic Quintana, of Moratin, -Gallego, Lista, and Jovellanos dominated the -American schools. -</p> - -<p> -A lasting divorce, this of a romantic politics and -a classic literature. When letters were invaded by -romanticism, with its lyric lamentations, a sane -realism—the realism of men preoccupied with finances -or laborious codifications—struggled against the -swamping waves of all this rhetoric. Literary forms, -long out of fashion in France and even in Spain, -still aroused enthusiasm in America; the American -author adopted the realism of the naturalistic novel -when the French schools were already given over -to symbolism, and at a later date he became first -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P250"></a>250}</span> -a modernist and then a decadent, while in France -a classic restoration had set in. To the real current -of European literature South America has preferred -ephemeral excesses, and the work of coteries, which -she has imitated with enthusiasm. It is barely ten -years since South American letters began to -reflect—curiously behind the times—the direction taken by -French poetry. The literature of the new continent, -to-day invaded by books and ideas, follows a path -parallel to that followed by French and Spanish -letters. Every novelty finds an echo, and the very -diversity of imitation ought before long to give rise -to a final originality. -</p> - -<p> -Poets, both romantic and classic, threw themselves -into the social conflicts of the time; whence that -kinship between poetry and eloquence, already -recognised by Brunetière in France.[<a id="chap0502fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn1">1</a>] In American poetry -we find the civic accent, eulogies of liberty, odes to -civilisation and the mother-country, rather than -elegies or "states of soul." Tyrtæus would be -popular there rather than Anacreon; Béranger would -be imitated rather than De Musset. Classicism -thus takes the form of a civic poetry; calm and -mannered, it sings of political subjects, of progress, -independence, and the victories of liberty over -theocracy. -</p> - -<p> -In Mexico, Ecuador, and the Argentine, the first -generation of republican poets were incontestably -disciples of the master of the Spanish masters—Quintana, -whose grave and virile odes exalted the -printing-press, philanthropy, and progress: new -deities erected by the French Revolution upon the -ancient altars. His emphasis, the movement of his -verse, and the breath of oratory which enlivens his -stanzas, charmed and subjugated the writers oversea. -Liberty, so barely conquered, gave birth to a poetry -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P251"></a>251}</span> -which sang of heroes and of battles. Ideas and -forms were inspired by Quintana; their best eulogy -is comparison with their model. Thus Olmedo, the -second poet of this classic age, is known as the -American Quintana. -</p> - -<p> -Those who acclaimed the Revolution in Mexico also -were disciples of the Spanish poet; republican -orators in verse, Quintana Roo or Sanchez del Tagle, -who describe the heroes of the War of Independence. -An eminent poetess, Salome Ureña de Henriquez, -of San Domingo, sang of civilisation and the native -land with a most austere and noble eloquence. -</p> - -<p> -A political poet again, Juan Cruz, of Argentina, -gracefully proclaimed the glory of the Unitarian party -and that of the reformer Rivadavia. -</p> - -<p> -The contemporary writers of the Revolution did -not forget the instruction received in Spain, in the -universities of the eighteenth century, where they -studied in Latin and commented upon the classics -of Greece and Rome. They read and imitated -Horace and Virgil, and were inspired by the ancient -democracies, and the heroes of Plutarch; the -Isthmus of Panama was compared to that of Corinth. -At their birth the Republics appointed consuls and -triumvirs. In speeches and proclamations of the -time we find numerous classical reminiscences; -politicians and poets borrowed their images from -Pindar, Horace, Homer, and Virgil. -</p> - -<p> -The influence of the classics and of Quintana is -especially to be remarked in Olmedo, the poet of -Ecuador, who chanted the victory of Junin and the -genius of Bolivar. The movement of his verses is -that of a Latin ode, while the eloquence, sonority, -and graceful progression of his stanzas recalls the -Spanish classics. -</p> - -<p> -The Venezuelan lyrist Bello, a true humanist, was -inspired by Virgil, and attained a truly classic -perfection. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P252"></a>252}</span> -</p> - -<p> -But Quintana was not alone in serving as model -to the lost colonies; others, the fiery Gallego, and -Moratin, the author of delightful comedies; a critic, -Alberto Lista; Melendez, Cienfugos, and Martinez -de la Rosa, cultivators of a correct, elegant, and -frigid form, were also imitated, and the imitators -could not free themselves from their impoverished -classicism. Olmedo (1780) and Bello (1781) were -both masters of metre, taste, and harmony. It is -not easy in their case to separate the politician from -the artist, they themselves considering their art to -be a high republican function; Olmedo counsels -federation in his <i>Canto à Junin</i>, and José Eusebio -Caro attacks the tyrant Lopez in a poem upon liberty, -while Felipe Pardo writes political satires. Of the -American democracies he says: -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Zar de tres tintas, indio, bianco y negro,<br /> - Que rige el continente americano<br /> - Y que se llama Pueblo Soberano."[<a id="chap0502fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn2">2</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -Towards 1840 classicism gave way to romanticism. -The Revolution, the protest of individualism against -the Spanish rule, disdained the old literary canons, -having first condemned the old political system. The -poets, still numerous, sought models in Spain. Arolas, -Espronceda; Zorilla, the Duke de Rivas; and in -France, Victor Hugo, de Musset, and Lamartine. -Byron, too, had his disciples. All were romantic in -life and work, pilgrims <i>à la</i> Childe Harold, who -described <i>Châtiments</i> and were persecuted for liberty. -Disorderly, imperfect, dominated by an inward -dæmon who produced a continual exaltation, they -portrayed the constant restlessness of their spirits. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P253"></a>253}</span> -Romanticism in Europe was the triumph of the -individual, of liberty, the lyrical poetry of -confessions—the melancholy of René or the satanic pride -of Manfred—the revenge, in short, of sentiment -against reason. In art this stood for liberty, -the cult of the exotic, the return to nature, the -Gothic restoration, and war upon classic -conventions. -</p> - -<p> -Which among these elements could give the new -generation in South America that enthusiasm which -might evoke a romantic state of mind? Certainly -not the national antiquities, remote and misunderstood. -Although a few poets wrote <i>Orientales</i> without -much sincerity, none sought to renew his lyrical -gifts in the Aztec or Quechua traditions. But this -imitation of the tendencies of French and Spanish -letters was assisted by the lack of discipline found -in the American character, which was more attracted -by idealism and sentiment than by classic rigidity -or reason. All things favoured romanticism; the -political conflicts and the anarchy of the time formed -Byronic heroes; tropical passion found its food in -the sentimentalism of Lamartine and the ardour of -De Musset, while the individual was developed by -struggling against the tyrants. In the uncertain and -barbaric life of these young democracies there was -a confusion of <i>rôles</i>; the poet became the <i>vates</i>, the -leader of the crowd, only to feel himself exiled among -mediocrities, the victim of illiterates. Melancholy, -exasperated individualism, the high mission of the -poet, and solitude—these are romantic elements which -are reflected in American literature. -</p> - -<p> -The Colombian Caro believed in the "consoling -mission" of the poet, and this mission, for the -Argentine Andrade, was a priesthood and a prophetic -gift. The poet appears "when the human caravan -changes its route in the desert." But as a result of -this mission Nemesis inflicts solitude and suffering. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P254"></a>254}</span> -The South American poets abandon the world as -a result of their despair:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Sufrirás el martirio<br /> - Que al nació poeta<br /> - Reserva el hado impío,"[<a id="chap0502fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn3">3</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -sings the Argentine Echeverria. -</p> - -<p> -And Marmol:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Yo vivo solamente cuando feliz deliro<br /> - Que los terrenos lazos mi corazón rompió.<br /> - . . . . .<br /> - Venid porque yo gozo yo vivo solamente<br /> - Si pienso que he dejado la humanidad detras."[<a id="chap0502fn4text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn4">4</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The Peruvian Salaverry contemplates his heart:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Cual la ruina de un templo silencioso<br /> - Vacío, abandonado, pavoroso,<br /> - Sin luz y sin rumor."[<a id="chap0502fn5text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn5">5</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -José Eusebio Caro, who has sung of liberty in -admirable strophe, would hide himself in the forest:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Que los hombres ya me niegan<br /> - Una tumba en sus ciudades<br /> - En mi patria me expulsaron<br /> - De la casa de mis padres."[<a id="chap0502fn6text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn6">6</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -These romantics were not, like Rousseau, inclined -toward the simple life by an excess of artificial -civilisation. Their melancholy, when it is not an -echo of exotic griefs, is the cry of anguish of a -noble mind lost in a barbarous republic. This -contrast between the man and his surroundings very -clearly explains the strong hold obtained by the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P255"></a>255}</span> -romantic ideal; the literature of passion, pride, and -revolt, it expresses a social condition of inner conflict -and solitude. -</p> - -<p> -The Argentine, Marmol, imitates Byron in his -<i>Pilgrim</i>. Grandiloquent, passionate, and mournful, -he curses the tyranny of Rosas. Echeverria, under -a classic mantle, barely hides his romantic subjectivity, -full of passion and a vague melancholy. In -Venezuela Heriberto Garcia de Quevedo left a legacy -of prodigiously long poems. -</p> - -<p> -In Cuba Gertrudis Gomez de Avellanada, wearied -and lyrical, exalted love in the accents of De -Musset; the mulatto Placido wrote musical -descriptive verse; Juan Clemente Zenea, translator of -Leopardi and Longfellow, confessed, in musical -elegiac verse, his disabused outlook upon life; and -greater than any, Hérédia, the singer of Niagara, a -fiery, suffering spirit, full of contrasts as his art, -tells us of his sorrow and his faith; he sings of -love and nature in beautiful imagery, admiring both -the divine might and the intoxicating sensuality of -the tropics. -</p> - -<p> -In Mexico Espronceda and Lamartine inspired -Fernando Calderon and Ignacio Rodriguez Galvan; -Zorilla found a disciple in Manuel Flores, the poet -of burning sensuality and savage nature. Brazil, -as fruitful of romantics as Cuba, produced Gongalvez -Diaz, who sang of the melancholy and nostalgia so -well expressed by a word in his own tongue—<i>saudades</i>;—of -sorrow, deliverance by knowledge, and -the consolation of tears:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Men Deus, senhor men Deus, o que ha no mundo<br /> - Que não seja soffrir?<br /> - O homen nasce, e vive um so instante<br /> - E soffre até morrir!"[<a id="chap0502fn7text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn7">7</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P256"></a>256}</span> -</p> - -<p> -In his love poetry there is a very, beautiful -sincerity, although we may recognise the influence -of many masters—Byron, Zorilla, and the French -romantics. Cited by him, this line of -Saint-Beuve's:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Mon Dieu, fais que je puisse aimer!"[<a id="chap0502fn8text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn8">8</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -enables us to understand his plaints. -</p> - -<p> -Casimiro de Abrou also essayed romantic subjects: -solitude, misery, and exile. Alvares de Azevedo -imitated Byron and De Musset, while a poet who -did not versify, José de Alencar, expounded in his -tales and novels a romantic conception of the Indian, -simple and virtuous as one of Rousseau's characters. -</p> - -<p> -We find this conception again in the work of a -great poet of Uruguay, Zorilla de San Martin, who -in <i>Tabaré</i> sang the struggles of the greedy -conquerors and the ingenuous Americans. -</p> - -<p> -Romanticism was not with these men merely a -matter of art; their lives were no less troublous -and lyrical than their poetry. Rebels and nomads, -thirsting for democratic liberty, they were wasted in -the struggle with tyrants, or sent early to the scaffold -or into exile, as though fate respected the unity of -their troubled career. Thus these disciples of -Lamartine, imaginative and sensual, vehement and -melancholy in their art, gave a sombre yet vivid -colouring to a period of American history, the years -between 1840 and 1860. -</p> - -<p> -Andrade was conspicuous among all for his -sonorous eloquence; he was the greatest by virtue -of the oratory, wealth, and ambitious grandeur of -his poems, vast compositions which recall the <i>Légende -des siècles</i>, the <i>Prometheus</i> of Shelley, or the -<i>Ahasuerus</i> of Edgar Quinet. Doubtless he is not the equal -of his masters. But devoid of melancholy and restless -passion, his rhetoric, his verbal wealth, and his -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P257"></a>257}</span> -sybilline accents exercised a powerful influence. -Repeating the grandiloquent excesses of Hugo, he -was the poet of democracy and the Latin race. -</p> - -<p> -His <i>Atlantide</i> is the Latin future; <i>Prometheus</i> the -eternal battle of thought and fanaticism. He is full -of Spanish arrogance. Marvellously sonorous, his -stanzas proclaim, with pomp and majesty, a -romantic faith in America and liberty. The soul of -Rome "destined to inaugurate history and embrace -space," lives again beyond the ocean; Spain was -the heir at first, until she choked beneath the -"enervating shadow of the Papacy." France, -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Montana en cuya cumbre<br /> - Anida el genio humano,"[<a id="chap0502fn9text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn9">9</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -was now the leading Latin nation, and Napoleon the -instrument of the ancient imperial spirit. His sword -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Que sobre el mapa de la Europa absorta<br /> - Trazó fronteras, suprimió desiertos<br /> - Y que quizás de recibir cansada<br /> - El homenaje de los reyes vivos,<br /> - Fuá á demandar en el confin remote,<br /> - El homenaje de los reyos muertos."[<a id="chap0502fn10text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn10">10</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Andrade believed in the sacred <i>rôle</i> of the poet: -Hugo, his admired master, -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "La voz de trueno del gran profeto hebreo<br /> - La cuerda de agrios tonos<br /> - De Juvenal<br /> - Y el rumor de los cantos<br /> - Del viejo Gibelino,"[<a id="chap0502fn11text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn11">11</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P258"></a>258}</span> -seemed to him prophet and forerunner, martyr and -exile. The poet, seer, and leader of men, is thus -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Hermano de las águilas del Cáucaso<br /> - Que secaron piadosas con sus alas<br /> - La ensangrentada faz de Prometeo."[<a id="chap0502fn12text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn12">12</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Lyric scholars in these troublous republics, the -romantics sought to ennoble politics by a generous -idealism, to overthrow the tyrants, and realise an -impossible democracy. -</p> - -<p> -French naturalism and the Parnassian school had -little influence in Latin America. Although Zola -enjoyed a strange popularity—which corresponds, in -the literary world, to the enthusiasm of the Trans-atlantic -universities for materialism and positivism—we -meet with few imitations of <i>Germinal</i> or <i>La -Terre</i>. The American writers have not assimilated -the naturalistic methods, their brutal and minute -observation, their study of the crowd, and their -intentional pessimism; they have hardly read the -masters of the realistic school, Balzac and Flaubert. -Only during the last twenty years have Maupassant, -the Portuguese novelist Eça de Queiros, d'Annunzio, -and the great Russian writers interested and -disturbed the American reader. The love of the novel -is but gradually dislodging the old lyric enthusiasm. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-258"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-258.jpg" alt="CLÉMENTE PALMA. Peruvian essayist and novelist. RICARDO PALMER." /> -<br /> -CLÉMENTE PALMA. <br /> -Peruvian essayist and novelist. <br /> -<br /> -RICARDO PALMER. -</p> - -<p> -The Parnassian movement, in America, produced -the Argentine poet Leopoldo Diaz. He adapted to -Spanish verse the sonority, the relief, and the plastic -beauty of the French masters. One of his poems is -dedicated in homage to the poet of the <i>Sonnets</i>, to -his incomparable model, José-Maria de Hérédia. -Diaz sought to give his native Spanish, the language -of eloquence, a Parnassian inevitability, and to mould -its rhetorical abundance to the narrow limits of the -sonnet. <i>Les sombras de Hellas</i> invokes the Greek -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P259"></a>259}</span> -life, sensual and luminous; <i>Les conquistadores</i> the -thunderous epic; and all his optimistic songs speak -of a Latin renaissance in the overseas democracies. -</p> - -<p> -An absorbing taste for symbolism and the decadents, -for "deliquescent" poetry and the work of -the small Parisian cliques, has produced an intensely -vital intellectual movement—modernism—which, by -its wealth of language and ideas and the renewed -vitality of its language, signifies a true renaissance. -Beside it the old classic and romantic movements -seem lukewarm imitations which pale before the -exuberance of more modern work. -</p> - -<p> -Modernism is undoubtedly an adequate diet for -Transatlantic Latins. But is this decadent -renaissance better inspired than the passion and the -eloquence of yesterday? Is it also an indication -of servitude? By no means; the great poets have -retained a robust belief in life, and their master, -Ruben Dario, followed his <i>Prosas profanas</i> by his -<i>Songs of life and hope</i>. -</p> - -<p> -The younger generation was drawn to this art -by purely psychological motives. The Spanish -character had become refined by its new environment; -weakened, perhaps, but it had gained a keener -intelligence and a greater wealth of fantasy. -Chiaroscuro and subtle shades, such as the French delight -in, delighted the Creole also, partial as he was to -<i>finesse</i>, to a delicate Byzantism, and gracefully -sceptical of the robust Spanish faith. Then there -were hosts of half-castes, in whom the inimical -heredities of two races were in painful conflict. The -strangest characteristics—the sensuality of the negro -and the melancholy of the Indian—gave the new -race a spiritual personality full of contradictory -characteristics; melancholy but not without optimism; -the desires of a faun or a satyr, violent or languid; -and a love of the rare and unusual, of verbal -music, of complication in the matter of feeling, of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P260"></a>260}</span> -carefully chosen language and unfamiliar rhythms. -Reading Verlaine, Samain, Laforgue, Moréas, Henri -de Régnier, and not as yet forgetting Gautier and -Banville; mingling all cults and asking intoxication -from every flagon, the poets of America have -struck the national chord. Symbolism has been of -little assistance; it calls for a lofty conception of -the world and a profound sense of mystery. They -much prefer decadence in art, because of its musical -lyric quality, its exotic images, and its melancholy -rhythms. An elective affinity, to use Goethe's phrase, -has enabled them to draw an individual music from -the foreign instrument. -</p> - -<p> -So new metres and old fashions refurbished, -modern images in sonorous and tortuous measures, -all that in Europe was the voice of ennui, the tardy -fruit of a world grown old, a Baudelairian art, the -art of refined scepticism, was made to serve a young -generation in love with life for the expression of -its ambitions. This reform has reached Spain; the -initiate has captivated the initiator, as in the drama -of Renan. The recent voices of Spanish poetry follow -that of the pontiff of the new school, Ruben Dario. -Similarly Brazil has influenced Portuguese poetry, -and, according to Theophilo Braga, surpasses it. -</p> - -<p> -German and French romanticism revived the old -forgotten <i>chansons de geste</i>, the despised poetry of -the Gothic school; they charmed by the rude -naturalism of the primitive legends. Similarly the -modernists of America have renewed Spanish literature -by listening to the ingenuous voice of Berceo -and the more melancholy accents of Manrique. The -result is that they are more traditionalist than the -classic writers of the seventeenth century, whose -intolerance so impoverished the language. -</p> - -<p> -This renaissance is of barely twenty years' date. -Certain forerunners—Marti and Julien del Casal, both -Cubans, one a revolutionary in politics as in poetry, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P261"></a>261}</span> -the other a man of tragic life, and Gutierrez Najera -in Mexico—revealed the new poetic speech to a -continent weary of sentimentalism. New or unfamiliar -rhythms and agile metres were the vehicle of a new -and intimate lyrical passion. But the note was not -as yet decadent: Banville and Gautier, and De -Musset, even, had not yet given way to Verlaine, who -was as unknown as Mallarmé. A Venezuelan critic, -Pedro Emilio Coll, drew attention to the persistent -cult among the "American decadents," of the great -Theodore, and of the author of <i>Funambulesques</i>. -In the <i>Azul</i> of Ruben Dario he noted the influence -of Mendès and Loti, even that of Daudet and -the realists of his school, rather than the influence -of symbolism.[<a id="chap0502fn13text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn13">13</a>] -</p> - -<p> -By the vivacity and brilliance of his verse, Manuel -Guttierrez Nájera reminds one of Banville. He sings -in a new key, at once Creole and exotic, the -complicated sensations which are presently to torment -Ruben Dario. Spanish verse had never yet held such -grace and spirit, nor this sensuality appeased by -tears, nor this proud and reserved melancholy. <i>A -Cecilia</i>, <i>Vidas Muertas</i>, <i>Castigadas</i>, <i>Mariposas</i>—these -contained a new lyric poetry, elegiac and tender, -an unknown rhythm, a forgotten manner. He was -a forerunner. Who does not know his lines upon -the spoiled child whom he loves? -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "No hay en el mundo mujer mas linda!<br /> - Pié de Andaluza, boca de guinda,<br /> - <i>Esprit</i> rociado de Veuve Cliquot,<br /> - Talle de avispa, cutis de ala,<br /> - Ojos traviesos de colegiala,<br /> - Como los ojos de Louise Théo."[<a id="chap0502fn14text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn14">14</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P262"></a>262}</span> -He is not always so frivolous. Mystery torments -him; he knows the bitterness of vanished illusions; -a pessimist, he has a vision of the moths of death -"which have such black wings, and encircle us in -a funereal round." The monologue of the unbeliever -is a lament like that of Sigismond de Calderon upon -the vanity of life:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Si es castigo ¿ cual pecado,<br /> - Sin saberlo, cometimos?<br /> - Si premio ¿ porque ganado?<br /> - Sin haberlo demandado,<br /> - Responded ¿ porqué vivimos?"[<a id="chap0502fn15text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn15">15</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Poems and chronicles are filled with a like -restlessness and trouble. He writes Odes worthy of an -anthology; he translates De Musset and Coppee. -His master is Gautier: he shares his love of the -light; he sings, in love with ideal whiteness:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "¿ Qué cosa más blanca que cándido lirio?<br /> - ¿ Qué cosa más pura que místico cirio?<br /> - ¿ Que cosa mas casta que tierno azahar?"[<a id="chap0502fn16text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn16">16</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The modernism of South America was inspired -firstly by the Parnassian school of France, which -did not until later give place to the new voice, -symbolist or decadent. Verlaine, Samain, and Laforgue -were then the chief models; but beneath the current -of imitation a movement was forming which was -more and more original, a great school of verse, the -leading note of which was refinement. "We owe -to foreign literatures, and more particularly to the -French," says a writer already cited, "the refinement -of the organs necessary to the interpretation of -beauty; we owe to them our methods of observation -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P263"></a>263}</span> -and our love of impressions, rather than any kind of -co-ordinated æsthetic perspective.... Our eyes -have learned from them to see better, and our minds -to gather fugitive sensations." -</p> - -<p> -No writer represents this evolution, this progressive -refinement, better than Ruben Dario, a poet of -Central America (of Nicaragua), the recognised -master of the new school and one of the greatest -lyric writers of all time in the Spanish language. -He is to America what Verlaine and Hugo are to -France. His images, his phrases even, excite a -servile imitation. A noble band of disciples aspires -to continue his immortal work. He denies his -disciples: "He who shall slavishly follow my track -will lose his treasure, and, whether page or slave, -will not be able to hide his livery." But in vain: -ardent youth listens and lays its votive offerings at -the feet of the great and disdainful artist. -</p> - -<p> -His poetic reform was effectual in the extreme. -He renewed the youth of archaic metres, adapted -French rhythms to Spanish verse, and modified, with -perfect taste, the classic division of the line of -verse—the place of the cæsura. With equal mastery he has -employed slow and majestic measures to interpret -the melancholy of the flesh, or the dancing metres of -Banville, or plastic forms of a Hellenic perfection. -He seems to make his own the cry of Carducci: -<i>Odio l'usata poesia</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Modern Spanish poetry used often to employ verses -of eight and eleven syllables, forms to which a certain -rhetorical pomp very readily allies itself. An -interpreter of new ideas, Dario would not, like the French -poet, accept old forms; he employed lines of ten -and twelve syllables, adopted the pentameter and -hexameter of the classics, and employed verses of -fourteen and sixteen syllables.[<a id="chap0502fn17text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn17">17</a>] He displaced accents, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P264"></a>264}</span> -and wrote admirable <i>vers libres</i>. A revolutionary, -in ten years he had transformed Spanish poetry. -</p> - -<p> -<i>Prosas Profanas</i>, published in 1900, is, according -to the phrase of his incomparable critic, José -Enrique Rodo, "the full tension of his poet's bow." From -the paradoxical title to the wealth of metre, -all is strange in this delicate piece of work, which -opens a new literary cycle, as did <i>Emaux et Camées</i> -or <i>Fleurs du mal</i> in France. The originality of -the book comes from the poet's prodigious faculty of -recognising in each school what is essential to him, -and in appropriating it, without, therefore, ceasing -to be personal. A lyric unrest carries him to one -manner or another, but, archaic or modern, it -becomes his own. His grace, suppleness, and learned -complexity are unequalled; he will write a Symphony -in <i>Gris Majeur</i> like Gautier, or poems in the manner -of Verlaine, or a <i>Chant an Centaure</i> in the manner -of Maurice de Guerin. His work is not built of -imposing granite, but of many coloured marbles, with -strange and decadent shades, such as the chiseller of -the <i>Camées</i> loved. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-264"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-264.jpg" alt="RUFINO BLANCO FOMBONA (VENEZUELA). Contemporary poet, novelist, and thinker." /> -<br /> -RUFINO BLANCO FOMBONA (VENEZUELA). <br /> -Contemporary poet, novelist, and thinker. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -His verse possesses at once the sensuality of a -faun, the distinction of a marquis of the <i>Grand -Siècle</i>, and the disenchantment of a mystic. No -form, no period can arrest his wandering spirit:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Yo persigo una forma que no encuentra mi estilo,<br /> - Boton de pensamiento que busca ser la rosa."[<a id="chap0502fn18text"></a><a href="#chap0502fn18">18</a>]<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -In the presence of love, art, and life he experiences -an enthusiasm which quickly vanishes; he discovers -the final melancholy of all things. He knows, with -the Roman, the sadness that lurks in human joys: -<i>quod in ipsis floribus angit</i>. -</p> - -<p> -But before singing his autumnal bitterness of heart -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P265"></a>265}</span> -he sings of nature, of ancient civilisations, of the -art of all ages, and of the pageantry of life. -</p> - -<p> -Dario is the leader of a school, but other poets, as -great as he, may be regarded as the precursors -of literary "modernism": José Asunción Silva, -Leopoldo Lugones, Guillermo Valencia, Rufino Blanco -Fombana—the latter, like Almafuerte, Chocano, and -the Lugones of the "Hills of Gold," seeks to be the -poet of the new America. These writers aim at an -American art, an art free from rhetorical <i>clichés</i>, -innocent of imitation, of declamation, of affected -sensibility. Who shall say whether the revolt of -this younger generation will lead it? Angel de -Estrada is the poet of the exotic in his <i>Alma nomade</i>; -Guillermo Valencia, as great as Dario in the exegesis -of the legends of Greece and the love of things -Hellenic, has a universal curiosity and an astonishingly -versatile lyrical capacity. Rufino Blanco -Fombana has sung of sensual passion, the hatred of -tyrants, and the glories of Bolivar; he has -remodelled the lyric, has written verses as finely -chiselled as the gems of the Greek anthology, and -sonorous lines in which we hear a call to action and -to victory. Chocano aspires to become the poet of -America: grandiloquent, sonorous, rich in imagery. -Lugones is a much admired author of sentimental -verse, audacious as to form and vocabulary. José -Asuncion Silva was noted for his melancholy, -languorous verse: he was a forerunner, a master, -like Dario. Ricardo Jaimes Freire employs the more -audacious metres; Amado Nervo, equally radical in -his love of new forms, exhibits a modernism touched -by a breath of Buddhistic pantheism, and sings of -"Sister Water" like a modern St. Francis. -</p> - -<p> -Essayists of the English type are numerous in -America. They import European ideas, freely discuss -the great problems of existence. If they apply -themselves to the criticism of letters, they discover -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P266"></a>266}</span> -general ideas; in place of minute analysis they write -artistic commentaries. José Enrique Rodo, of -Uruguay, is the master in this department of -literature. He has published an essay on Dario, and his -two books, <i>Motivos de proteo</i>, a collection of essays -of great beauty, and <i>Ariel</i>, a noble address to the -youth of South America, have become classics. -There are other critics as brilliant: Manuel Ugarte, -at once thinker and artist, writer of short stories, -poet, ideologist, and the author of a remarkable -book dealing with the future of South America; the -Colombian, Sanin Cano, who treats of ideas; two -Argentines, Emilio Becher, who writes admirable -analyses of ideas and books, and Ricardo Rosas, who -is, by reason of his nationalism and his wide -culture, the master of the rising generation; two -Venezuelans, Manuel Diaz Rodriguez and Pedro -Emilio Coll, the first a noble idealist and prose -artist, the second a dreamer, who has been influenced -by the sceptical irony of Renan; the Peruvian, -Manuel Gonzala Prada, whose aggressive and -sonorous style reveals a lofty moral unrest: in his -essay on life and death are pages which Guyau -might have signed, and his study of Castelar is a -magnificent satire; José de la Riva Agüero, a -historian, a critic, and a polemist of unusual vigour; -in San Domingo a powerful mind with an extraordinary -knowledge of literatures, classic and foreign, -Pedro Henriquez Ureña; while in Uruguay, Carlos -Reyles has just proved by his book, <i>La Mort da -Cygne</i>, his acquaintance with all the new ideas and -his ability to make a powerful synthesis of them. -Two Brazilian essayists, Oliveira Lima (also a great -historian) and José Verissimo have written -remarkable studies of civilisations and books. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-266"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-266.jpg" alt="MANUEL UGARTE (ARGENTINA). Contemporary poet, novelist, and essayist." /> -<br /> -MANUEL UGARTE (ARGENTINA). <br /> -Contemporary poet, novelist, and essayist. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -The short story, neglected by the romantics, is -being revived. Modernism, having already transformed -poetry, has brought to the <i>conte</i> a subtlety -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P267"></a>267}</span> -in the analysis of the passions and a knowledge of -psychology that refuses to take alarm at problems -of morbid obscurity, and the indispensable quality -of concentration of interest. Machado de Assis is -a master of powerful analysis, and a sober and -ironical style; his vision of life is melancholy. -Diaz Rodriguez has written some superb short stories. -An evocation or a symbol places those of Carlos -Reyles of Uruguay on a plane far above that of -the ordinary romance. Two other writers of the -younger generation, Attilio Chiappori and Clemente -Palma, hailing respectively from Argentine and Peru, -have introduced a new æsthetics into the short story; -the latter seems to show the influence of Hoffmann -and Poe, but his examples of the <i>macabre</i> are none -the less powerfully original; while Chiappori, a -physician and alienist, loves the states of twilight -phases of a mind which is tottering on the verge of -reason. <i>Borderland</i> tells us of this vague territory -in a sinuous, and, in America, hitherto unfamiliar -style. -</p> - -<p> -A great Peruvian writer, Ricardo Palma, has -created a department of literature, that of tradition, -which partakes equally of the nature of history, and -the romance, and the <i>conte</i>. He has described in -a sumptuous style the life of the old Spanish colonies, -devout and sensual; the traditions of a cultivated -community, the city of Lima. His subtle irony, -his joyous and somewhat licentious narrative, often -remind us of M. Anatole France and the Italian -story-tellers. -</p> - -<p> -In Latin America are published not only exquisite -examples of the <i>conte</i>, but also novels in which -the study of society and the analysis of the mind -are not overlooked. Among others may be cited -<i>El Hombre de Hierro</i>, by Rufino Blanco Fombona, -a Venezuelan; <i>Canaan</i>, by the Brazilian, Graça -Aranha; <i>La Gloria de don Ramiro</i> and <i>Redención</i>, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P268"></a>268}</span> -by the Argentine writers Enrique Rodriguez Larreta -and Angel de Estrada; <i>Idolos Rotos</i> and <i>Sangre -Patricia</i>, by Diaz Rodriguez, whose high talent as -a writer of short stories we have already praised; -<i>La Raza de Cain</i>, by Carlos Reyles, so remarkable, -also, for his essays and his tales. -</p> - -<p> -Blanco Fombona possesses irony, the gift of telling -a story, a rich descriptive talent, ease of dialogue, -and a power of forcible scene-painting. A novelist -by temperament, he has written the biography of a -representative Creole, the lamentable type created by -environment, for whom love and life reserve their -most terrible cruelties. A scrupulous employé, -neither strong nor cunning, he is the product of the -languorous tropical life; this "man of iron" is the -symbol of all the weaknesses. And about this life -is all the monotony of a small city, civil war, the -secret hatred of Creoles and foreigners, the -superannuated grace of the Spanish manner and the -Spanish pomp—in short, the whole of a little -seething world. -</p> - -<p> -<i>Canaan</i> is the romance of the promised land, of -fertile Brazil, where the blonde immigrant and the -half-breeds of every shade compete for the bounty -of a prodigal Nature. This long struggle is the -dramatic interest of the book; its beauty lies in -its magnificent descriptions of the tropics; the -language of Graça Aranha is full of harmonious -poetry. Angel de Estrada is one of the most -cultivated spirits of America. Traveller (is not one of -his books entitled <i>Ame Nomade</i>?), novelist, and poet, -he distils in his books the quintessence of long -meditation and infinite reading. His novel <i>Redención</i> -is the work of a humanist; civilisations, arts, beliefs, -all pass before us, evoked by the hand of a master. -A subtle and rich vocabulary serves him to give -life to his ideas and resuscitate the life of dead -cities. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-268"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-268.jpg" alt="RICARDO ROJAS (ARGENTINA). Contemporary poet and essayist." /> -<br /> -RICARDO ROJAS (ARGENTINA). <br /> -Contemporary poet and essayist. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P269"></a>269}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Enrique Rodriguez Larreta has described in his -novel <i>La Gloria de don Ramiro</i> the period of -Philip II., bloody, austere, and tyrannical. No -American artist has his verbal wealth, his power of -evocation, and his meticulous scholarship and genius -for reconstruction. This patient and harmonious -piece of work surprises us in a literature full of -improvisations like that of South America. -</p> - -<p> -<i>La Raza de Cain</i>, by Reyles, is a remarkable -romance, in which the author shows us the superman, -Nietzsche's man of prey, at grips with the weak and -the vanquished; he exalts, in language full of -eloquence, the Dionysiac joy of life and domination. -</p> - -<p> -Writer of short stories, a novelist at times, but -above all a brilliant chronicler, Gomez Carrillo has -had the greatest influence in Latin America. In a -nervous, harmonious style, full of delicate shades, -he has instructed the younger generation in -symbolism, in the elegant paradoxes of Wilde, in the -work of D'Annunzio and Verlaine; in short, in the -whole of decadent art. Above all, he eulogises Paris: -the "charming soul" of the city, the sounding -boulevards, its women, and the <i>galante</i> frivolity of its -unrest. A master of smiles and subtle irony, he -has the taste, the delicate amenity, of Scholl or -Fouquier, the art of telling an anecdote, of analysing -a comedy, of pouring gentle ridicule upon learned -heaviness or conceited solemnity. His books on -Japan and Greece, praised by the French critics, have -revealed the mystery of exoticism to the American -public, and all his work breathes a continual -suggestion of France. -</p> - -<p> -Such is the new literature, in which you will -find novelists and poets and a truly Florentine love -of beauty. He who knows America only by its -imperfect social framework, its civil wars, and its -persistent barbarism sees only the outer tumult; there -is a strange divorce between its turbulent politics -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P270"></a>270}</span> -and its refined art. If ever Taine's theory of the -inevitable correspondence between art and its environment -was at fault, it is in respect of these turbulent -democracies which produce writers whose literary -style is so precious, such refined poets and analysts. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-270"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-270.jpg" alt="GOMEZ CARRILLO. Contemporary novelist, essayist, and chroniqueur." /> -<br /> -GOMEZ CARRILLO. <br /> -Contemporary novelist, essayist, and chroniqueur. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn1text">1</a>] <i>L'Evolution de la poésie lyrique en France au XIXe siécle</i>, -Paris, 1899, p. 134. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn2text">2</a>] "Tzar of three colours, black, white, and Indian (red)—who -governs the American continent—and is called the Sovereign -People." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn3text">3</a>] "Thou shalt suffer the martyrdom—that for him who is born a -poet—is reserved by impious fate." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn4"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn4text">4</a>] "I live only when I dream—that my heart has broken all ties -with the world— ... Come, for my life and my joy hardly begin -to be—save when I know I have left mankind far behind me." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn5"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn5text">5</a>] "Like the ruins of a silent temple,—empty, abandoned, -fearful,—without light and without sound." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn6"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn6text">6</a>] "Men refuse me a tomb in their cities,—in my country I was -expelled from the house of my fathers." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn7"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn7text">7</a>] "My God, Lord my God, who is there in the world—that is not -sorrow's?—Man is born and lives a moment—and suffers unto -death." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn8"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn8text">8</a>] "My God, make me able to love!" -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn9"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn9text">9</a>] "Mountain on whose summit—human genius nests." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn10"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn10text">10</a>] "Which on the map of astonished Europe—traced frontiers -and suppressed deserts,—and which, weary perhaps with -receiving—the homage of living kings,—came at length to demand -afar—the homage of dead kings." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn11"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn11text">11</a>] "The voice of thunder of the great Hebrew prophet,—the chord -of bitter tones—of Juvenal—and the rumour of the songs—of the -old Ghibelline." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn12"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn12text">12</a>] "Brother to the eagles of the Caucasus—who fanned piously -with their wings the bleeding face of Prometheus." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn13"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn13text">13</a>] <i>Decadentismo y americanismo</i>, in <i>El castillo de Elsinor</i>. -Caracas 1902. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn14"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn14text">14</a>] "There is not in the world a prettier woman!—Foot of an -Andalusian, mouth of fruit—Sparkling wit of Veuve Cliquot—Waist -of wasp, skin like a bird's wing—The roguish eyes of a -schoolgirl—Such the eyes of Louise Theo." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn15"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn15text">15</a>] "If it is a punishment, what sin—have we without knowing -committed?—If it is a reward, how gained?—Without having -asked it,—say, why do we live?" -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn16"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn16text">16</a>] "What whiter than the candid lily?—What purer than the -mystic wax?—What more chaste than the tender orange-blossom?" -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn17"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn17text">17</a>] See the study of these innovations in <i>Horas de estudio</i>, by -P. Henriquez Ureña, p. 118 <i>et seq</i>. Paris, Ollendorff. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0502fn18"></a> -[<a href="#chap0502fn18text">18</a>] "I pursue a form which my pen does not find—the bud of an -idea which would be the rose." -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0503"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P271"></a>271}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III -<br /><br /> -THE EVOLUTION OF PHILOSOPHY -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Bello—Hostos—The influence of England—Positivism—The -influence of Spencer and Fouillée—The sociologists. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The democracies of America have not created new -systems of philosophy; they have rather contributed, -with Emerson and William James in the United -States, to propound the old problems in a new light. -Politics and history have been the occupation of -intelligent men. To pure speculation they have -preferred the patient study of the past, and the -impassioned analysis of the conflicts of the day. -</p> - -<p> -Yet they adopted European theories from the -earliest years of the Republic: those of the French -ideologists, Cabanis and Laromiguière were the -predominant influences in some schools, while the -influence of England extended from Central America -to Chili. With that influence went a moderate -utilitarianism, a bold analysis of the doctrines of -political and economic liberty. England contributed -to the liberty of America in Montevideo as in -Colombia; with the English gold which the revolutionaries -received the English philosophic radicalism -entered the country. Jurists and politicians profited -by its lessons, and certain of the thinkers of America -freed themselves from the shackles of the peripatetic -school under the influence of the Scottish -philosophers. Thus Ventura Martin and José-Joaquin -de Mora in Chili and Alcorta in the Argentine. With -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P272"></a>272}</span> -Andrès Bello, poet and legislator, philosopher and -philologist, these doctrines acquired a great -importance. His <i>Philosophy of the Understanding</i> was -inspired by Reid and Hamilton. In England he had -known James Mill, and some of his ideas upon the -inductive method and causality recall the doctrines -of John Stuart Mill, the son of James. Bello was -especially noted for the vigour of his logic and his -analysis of the phenomena of consciousness, his -penetrating psychology, and his positivism, which -caused him to disdain anything in the nature of -metaphysics. His conservative spirit accepted the -Catholic dogmas, while his critical faculty was -checked by them; what his implacable analysis -destroyed his religious temperament reconstructed. -He believed in perception, liberty, and the reality -of the external world, and in a first cause; he -transformed grammar by his psychological analysis, -and by his positivism civil law and the law of nations. -His excessive critical faculty sometimes ran to -super-fine abstraction, to an intellectual algebra. Bello -passed from ideology to positivism, from Destutt de -Tracy to Stuart; Mill, by way of the Scottish -philosophers. His admirable grammatical and -juridical efforts may be attributed to his mastery -of English analysis and realism. -</p> - -<p> -After Bello, the most remarkable of South -American philosophers was Eugenio de Hostos, who -was born in 1839. He did not merely expound -European ideas; he had his own system, which he -developed in a series of remarkable works; he was -a moralist rather than a metaphysician, and whether -in San Domingo or Lima or Santiago he never ceased -his endeavours to reform education and the law. -Problems, social and moral, gave him no rest; he -sought to found a new morality and sociology. -</p> - -<p> -Hostos might be called an optimistic rationalist. -He believed in an ideal world. Science, according -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P273"></a>273}</span> -to him, is an efficacious agent of virtue. He thought -it possible to discipline the will by teaching what -is true. Good is not a metaphysical entity nor -duty an imperative; the two together constitute a -"natural order." A profound harmony exists -between man and the world he lives in, and the moral -law is merely the revelation in the consciousness of -the geometry of things. For Hostos the world was -just, logical, and full of reason; an internal law, -<i>lex insita</i>, was manifested in the sidereal harmonies -as in virtuous actions. -</p> - -<p> -The moral ideal is therefore merely the adaptation -of conduct to the inevitable and harmonious relations -of things. Does not this optimism recall the morality -of Spencer, the rigorous ethics of Spinoza, and the -thought of Cournot, that "the philosophical basis -of morality is the idea of conformity to the universal -order"? -</p> - -<p> -The founders of the Republic were formed by -scholasticism. In the old universities men debated -in language bristling with syllogisms. A free -philosophic doctrine which accepted all the Catholic -verities—immortality, free will, and Providence—and -explained them with a fiery eloquence, was the -reaction against this school, whose thought was -crystallised in variable forms; this philosophy -corresponded to the romanticism of the politicians, to -their faith in democracy, liberty, and human progress. -</p> - -<p> -In Spanish America French ideas predominated; -in Brazil, German thought. Tobias Barreto and -Sylvio Romero propagated this culture in the place -of a colourless eclecticism; the first was a disciple -of the German philosophers, the second popularised -Spencer, without neglecting the Germans. In his -German studies Barreto adopted the monism of -Ludwig Noiré: "The universe is composed of atoms, -absolutely equal, which are endowed with two properties: -the one, which is internal, is sensation; the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P274"></a>274}</span> -other, which is external, is movement." This is the -metaphysics of the Brazilian thinker, and such was -his influence that, according to a critic, "the theories -of Comte and Noiré explain modern intellectual -Brazil." Sylvio Romero expounded the evolutionary -theories of Spencer, "a philosophic monument even -more important than that of Comte"; but in spite -of the efforts of this disciple Spencer is not as -popular in Brazil as in other American nations. -</p> - -<p> -Barreto, a monist and philosopher, was a disciple of -the judicial finalism of Jhering; Sylvio Romano, a -disciple of Spencer, expounded and supported the -conclusions of the social science of Demolins; in the -scientific ardour of these propagandists doctrines were -assembled together which had no mutual affinity. -In Brazil all exotic philosophies find their readers -and commentators, but the confusion caused by -incoherent imitations completely lacks the unity of a -national tendency. A psychologist of great value, -a free follower of Renan, Joachim Nabuco, in a style -full of subtlety, writes essays in philosophy and -criticism. -</p> - -<p> -A Spanish philosopher, less rigid than the schoolmen -and richer in doctrine than the eclectics, Balmes -engrossed many minds which were fatigued by sterile -eloquence. He founded no school in America, but he -is much read by the conservatives. His penetrating -analysis, his British realism, and his rationalism, -which seeks to harmonise these faculties with his -dogmas, attract many who are repelled by a diffuse -spirituality. -</p> - -<p> -These various tendencies—English empiricism, -French eclecticism, Benthamism—are not very -profound intellectual movements. They have replaced -the old scholasticism. A political ideology is wanted -which shall be adequate to the needs of those who -are struggling for power; metaphysical discussions -are relegated to oblivion. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-274"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-274.jpg" alt="JOSE ENRIQUE RODÓ (URUGUAY). Contemporary critic and essayist." /> -<br /> -JOSE ENRIQUE RODÓ (URUGUAY). <br /> -Contemporary critic and essayist. <br /> -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P275"></a>275}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Positivism was the first philosophy to impress -men's intellects; it has created great social -movements, such as the Reformation in Mexico and the -Republic in Brazil. It became an intellectual -dictatorship, a new scholasticism. Free-thinkers believe -in Comte and Spencer; in the humanitarian religion -of the first and the agnosticism of the second. -</p> - -<p> -Comte, to quote Mill, founded a complete system -of spiritual despotism. It upholds order and -authority as against the abuses of individualism, "the -energetic preponderance of the central power"; it -condemns "anarchy, and destructive liberalism"; it -exalts "the eminently social genius of Catholicism." In -nations annihilated by revolution and a romantic -freedom these theories are liable to justify -dictatorship, as they did in Brazil. There the Comtian -phrase "order and progress" has become the -national watchword. -</p> - -<p> -Other causes explain the supremacy of positivism; -a reaction against theology in the name of science, -and against a vague and official philosophy. Minds -formed by Catholicism, even if they have lost their -faith, demand secular dogmas, and verities organised -in a facile system: in short, a new faith, and the -Positivist philosophy satisfies this craving. At the -same time material progress, based upon scientific -development, and the utilitarianism which exaggerates -the importance of wealth, find in positivism, -which disdains futile ideologies, a system adequate -to industrial life. -</p> - -<p> -In Mexico, Brazil, and Chili positivism in its -integrity is predominant: the philosophic method -and the religion of humanity. In Brazil the positivist -school, with Constant, d'Araujo, Bastos, and their -disciples, preserves the calendar, the secular saints, -and the rites of the founder. It produces teachers -and creates political constitutions like that of Rio -Grande do Sul, and ardently propagates the doctrines -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P276"></a>276}</span> -of Comte. In Chili, Juan Enrique Lagarigue -preached a generous idealism, and the oblivion of -patriotic hatreds; but the democracy did not give -ear to this ingenuous apostle. In Mexico Barreda, -founder of the Preparatory College, and the leader of -intellectual life, was a disciple of Comte in Paris from -the year 1867. He revolutionised Mexican education -in a positivist direction, but did not accept the -religious aspect of the new philosophy. There is -still in Mexico a <i>Positivist Review</i>, which has a -certain small influence. -</p> - -<p> -Comtism influenced thinkers as a method, as a -reaction against theology and metaphysics, and as -a goal of pedagogy. But the philosophy of Spencer -is that which has sent its roots deepest into the -life of the Latin republics; progress, the cardinal -idea of the romantics, is succeeded by evolution, a -doctrine more agreeable to the positivist intelligence. -Since 1880 the theories of Spencer have made converts -of two generations; in some universities they -constitute an official system. No application has -been made of his psychology nor his biology, but his -social and moral teaching has been followed with -servility. Politicians and journalists employ -Spencerian formulæ: the social organism, the -instability of the homogeneous, differentiation, the -relativity of consciousness. In 1883 a Colombian -politician, Rafael Nuñez, President of his country, -expounded the philosophy of Spencer to his -fellow-citizens as a remedy for the political dogmatism of -his predecessors. American statesmen might readily -have asked the philosopher of evolution for scientific -suggestions, as did the Japanese. -</p> - -<p> -Under the influence of the English thinker the -scientific period was ushered in. The study of social -science is beginning; men profess a materialism -or a positivism hostile to the older ontological ideas; -they believe in science even more than in the sciences, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P277"></a>277}</span> -in the rational explanation of all mysteries, in the -supremacy of mathematics and physics. Various -influences are at work, and the confused result thereof -favours the triumph of positivism. The political and -social theories of Dr. Gustave Le Bon, the impetuous -writings of Max Nordau, the criminology of -Lombroso and Ferri, the formulæ of Taine, the -biology and sociology of Letourneau, are studied and -commented upon in the universities, the parliaments, -and the schools of South America. Eloquence is -repudiated as contrary to scientific precision, and -romantic faith is disdained by the positivist. A -party which has ruled over the evolution of Mexico -for the last thirty years has named itself the -"Scientific Party." -</p> - -<p> -The significance of these doctrines rapidly acquired -an excessive importance; in place of lucid methods -and clear ideas we find the teaching of the professors -full of the narrowness of dogma. Positivism implants -a limited and vulgar rationalism, a new metaphysic -which accords an absolute truth to the formulæ of -science; which exalts egoism and practical interests, -and the frantic pursuit of wealth in daily life. The -tendency of the American mind being undue simplification, -this philosophy has not been a discipline -of knowledge and action, but has limited the effort -of man to the conquest of the useful. The positivists -organise plutocratic tyrannies in certain American -nations. -</p> - -<p> -Without reigning in the schools as Spencer has -done, a French philosopher, M. Fouillée, has greatly -influenced law, politics, and education. In spite of -the reign of positivism his flexible doctrine has -attracted many Americans, and his works, such as -the <i>Idée du Droit</i> and the <i>Histoire de la Philosophie</i>, -are coming into use as text-books in some -universities. The theory of unavoidable ideas is well -known; and thinkers and philosophers have been -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P278"></a>278}</span> -inspired by this "philosophy of hope." By its -noble idealism, by its admirable wealth, its serene -rationalism, and its essentially Latin character, the -harmonious system of M. Fouillée has won considerable -popularity among the youth of America. -</p> - -<p> -We cannot separate his influence from that of the -young poet-philosopher whom a premature death has -consecrated: Guyau was the professor of idealism -to two generations of America. In <i>Ariel</i> -José-Enrique Rodo has enlarged upon his finest -metaphors; and a Peruvian thinker, Gonzalez Prada, has -popularised the suggestions of this Platonic thinker -upon death. -</p> - -<p> -Nietzsche also has disciples and commentators. -Translated into Spanish and vulgarised, his doctrines -are the Bible of exasperated egoism. Men saw -nothing of his stoicism, his worship of heroic life and -tragic adventures; "concussionary" ministers and -half-breeds aspiring to power believe themselves -Nietzschians, because in their immoral advancement -they ignore all moral scruples. A generation above -good and evil is practising opportunism—what the -French call "arrivism"—disorganising philosophy -and society, and forgetting the code of human -dignity. -</p> - -<p> -Fouillée, Guyau, and Nietzsche have not supplanted -the positivist philosophers; the superstition of science -and the hatred of metaphysical construction is still -prevalent. All the new doctrines are making their -way: pragmatism, Bergsonism, the philosophy of -Wundt and Croce, the philosophy of contingency: -without, however, creating new tendencies. From -this variety of imitations perhaps an American -system will arise. To-day every intellectual novelty -is passionately received and applied; an Argentine -judge has even founded some of his judgments upon -the teaching of Tarde. -</p> - -<p> -A reaction is setting in against dogmatic -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P279"></a>279}</span> -positivism; the present is a period of dissolution -and criticism. In accepting influences so -various—English, German, and French—the old faith in -science, in Comte and Spencer, is evaporating. Two -young philosophers, Antonio Caso in Mexico and -Henriquez Ureña in San Domingo, have contributed -to this analysis. Inspired by the ideas of M. Emile -Boutroux, they attack the narrow interpretation of -scientific laws. -</p> - -<p> -Thus after thirty years of influence, positivism is -losing its prestige. It is not being replaced in the -schools by any rigid system; but in place of an -intolerant dogmatism we have a free examination of -which we cannot yet foresee the consequences. Some -essays of Enrique Varona, in his writings on morality -and philosophy; of Carlos Octavio Bunge, in his -<i>Psicologia individual y social</i>; of Vaz-Ferreira, in -his critique of the problem of liberty; of -Deustua, of Lima, in his essays on morality, reveal -the fact that the new school is not lacking in a -serious philosophical orientation. But originality, the -new doctrine, the Ibero-American school—are these -shortly to be realities? So long as these nations are -still busy at the task of self-organisation in the -midst of anarchical unrest, so long as the cult of -wealth prevails above all disinterested efforts, so long -we shall assuredly have no other philosophy than an -adaptation of foreign systems. -</p> - -<p> -But in the new movements philosophical speculation -is losing its old simplicity; the study of -psychology is developing, analysis is more profound, -the old verbal solutions are rejected, and the study -of societies is acquiring an extraordinary importance. -</p> - -<p> -Half a century ago books on political science -swarmed. The same pragmatic preoccupation—the -adaptation of scientific ideas to the uses of social -life—prevails to-day. -</p> - -<p> -Many sociologists are inspired by biology, or -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P280"></a>280}</span> -psychology, or historical materialism. Cornejo, in -Peru, is adopting the psychological theories of -Wundt, his analysis of language, myth, and custom. -Letelier, in Chili, inclines toward the positivism of -Comte; Ramos Mejia, in the Argentine, explains -social phenomena in a biological sense. His books, -<i>La Locura en la Historia</i>, <i>Las Masas Argentinas</i>, -reveal this tendency. Ingegnieros has studied the -history of the Argentine in relation to the economic -factor. His work, <i>De la Barbarie al Imperalismo</i>, -is an essay in Marxist sociology. -</p> - -<p> -To sum up; social science preoccupies our -thinkers rather than pure philosophy. Neither the -great German idealists nor the critics and thinkers -are known in America; neither Hume, nor Kant, -nor Hegel, although the Spanish orator Emilio -Castelar has propagated a Hegelianism <i>ad usum -delphini</i> in the new continent. The pessimism of -Schopenhauer does not acclimatise itself in the -tropics. Eclecticism, positivism, and spiritualism -prevail. -</p> - -<p class="capcenter"> -<a id="img-280"></a> -<br /> -<img class="imgcenter" src="images/img-280.jpg" alt="ALCIDES ARGUEDAS (BOLIVIA). Novelist and sociologist." /> -<br /> -ALCIDES ARGUEDAS (BOLIVIA). <br /> -Novelist and sociologist. <br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0601"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P282"></a>282}</span></p> - -<h2> -BOOK VI -</h2> - -<p class="t3b"> - <i>THE LATIN SPIRIT AND THE GERMAN, NORTH<br /> - AMERICAN, AND JAPANESE PERILS</i><br /> -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -From a racial point of view, it is true, one cannot -call the South American republics Latin nations. -They are rather Indo-African or Africo-Iberian. -Latin culture—the ideas and the art of France, -the laws and the Catholicism of Rome—have -created in South America a mental attitude -analogous to that of the great Mediterranean -peoples, which is hostile or alien to the -civilisation of the Germanic or Anglo-Saxon peoples. -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -New influences, whether they come from -Germany or Anglo-Saxon America, and even more -those that come from Japan, are dangerous to the -Latin-American nations, if they tend to destroy -their traditions. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P283"></a>283}</span> -</p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I -<br /><br /> -ARE THE IBERO-AMERICANS OF LATIN RACE -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Spanish and Portuguese heredity—Latin culture—The influence of -the Roman laws, of Catholicism, and of French thought—The -Latin spirit in America: its qualities and defects. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Contrasting the Imperial Republic of North -America with the twenty democracies of South -America, we seek the reason of the antagonism which -exists between them in the essential element of race. -The contrast between Anglo-Saxons and Latins is -the contrast between two cultures. -</p> - -<p> -The South American peoples consider themselves -Latin by race, just as their brothers of the North are -the remote descendants of the Anglo-Saxon Pilgrim -Fathers; but although the United States were -created largely by the aggregation of austere English -emigrants, there has been no intervention of pure -Latin elements in the colonisation of the South. -Navigators of Latin blood discovered an unknown -continent, and Spaniards and Portuguese conquered -and colonised it; but there was little Latin blood -to be found in the homes formed by the sensuality of -the first conquerors of a desolated America. -</p> - -<p> -Emigrants from Estremadura and Galicia, Andalusians -and Castilians, many-hued men of Spain and -Portugal, were all concerned in the first interbreeding -with the vanquished races; they were Iberians, in -whom the anthropologists discover moral analogies -with the Berbers of North Africa. The Basques, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P284"></a>284}</span> -rude and virile, who emigrated from Spain to -dominate America, did not come of Latin stock; the -Andalusian element, from Seville or Cadiz, was of -Oriental origin. A Spain that was half African and -half Germanic colonised the vast territories of -America; two heredities, Visigoth and Arab, were -united in its strange genius. -</p> - -<p> -The French and Italian colonists have not the -importance of the Spaniards and Portuguese; they -are inferior in numbers and in wealth. The Iberians -have jealously defended their racial prerogative in -these isolated transatlantic colonies. After three -centuries, when once the continent was opened to the -outside world and to European commerce, the Italians -invaded the rich plains of the Argentine; there -they contributed to the formation of a new race, -which is more Latin than Spanish. -</p> - -<p> -But we must not forget the innumerable Anglo-Saxons -who have founded families in the Argentine -and in Chili, and have brought wealth to those -countries; nor the Germans in Southern Brazil, nor the -Asiatics of the Peruvian seaboard. Iberians, Indians, -Latins, Anglo-Saxons, and Orientals all mingle in -America; a babel of races, so mixed that it is -impossible to discover the definite outlines of the future -type. -</p> - -<p> -It is useless to look for unity of race in such a -country. And even in the United States the confused -invasion of Russian Jews and Southern Italians is -little by little undermining the primitive Anglo-Saxon -unity. -</p> - -<p> -This confusion of races in the North and the -South leaves two traditions, the Anglo-Saxon and -the Iberian. By force of assimilation these -traditions are transforming the new races. Englishmen -and Spaniards disappear, but the two moral -inheritances survive. -</p> - -<p> -The Latin tradition is not far to seek in the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P285"></a>285}</span> -Americans of the South. They are not exclusively -either Spanish or Portuguese; the legacy received -from Spain is modified by persistent influences of -French and Italian origin. -</p> - -<p> -From Mexico to La Plata, by long continued and -extensive action, the Roman laws, Catholicism, and -the ideas of France have given a uniform aspect -to the American conscience. -</p> - -<p> -Laws of Spanish origin prevail in South -America; they have formed the rigid framework of -civil life. These laws, in spite of strong feudal -elements, are of Roman origin. Under the influence -of Roman law Alfonso X. unified Spanish legislation, -during the first half of the thirteenth century; three -centuries later the Spaniards colonised America. The -<i>Partidas</i>, that vast encyclopædia of law and collection -of Castilian laws in particular, is a Roman code. -It confirmed the individualist sense of property as -against the Spanish forms of collectivism; it -reinforced the power of the <i>paterfamilias</i> in the austere -Iberian family; it consecrated equality, authorising -marriage between free men and the serfs formerly -banished from the State; and it adopted the Roman -formalism. -</p> - -<p> -Politically, after the downfall of the feudal system, -ambitious princes, from the time of Alfonso X. to -that of the Catholic Kings and of Charles V., -enforced their royal authority in the Roman sense. -These monarchs were Cæsars; they concentrated -all the powers of the State in themselves; they -centralised, unified, and legislated. This royal -absolutism destroyed privilege and levelled mankind. A -vast Spanish democracy was formed, subject to -Cæsar, after the manner of the Roman people. The -Latin sense of authority and law prevailed in the -Spanish colonies; property was individual and -absolute; civil equality obtained; in spite of racial -differences, Indians and Spaniards were theoretically -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P286"></a>286}</span> -on the same plane; the family, like the Roman <i>gens</i>, -united slaves and children under the gloomy paternal -power. The distant monarch was a formidable overlord, -to whom viceroys and chapters, courts, judicial -and ecclesiastical, addressed themselves to demand -laws and regulations, penalties and sanctions. -</p> - -<p> -Catholicism was indissolubly bound up with the -Roman authority of the laws; in Spain and America -the prince was at the same time the shepherd of -the Church. Religion was an instrument of political -domination; it was an imperial force, a legacy of -the Latin genius. It multiplied forms and rites; it -disciplined the colonists, demanding outward -obedience and uniformity of belief and manners. "The -Roman Church," says Harnack, "is a juridical -institution." Catholicism is also a social religion. In -America it created the Brazilian nation in opposition -to the Dutch peril; it founded republics among -Indians inimical to all forms of organised social -life; it extended the field of Latin endeavour, and -from North to South favoured the constitution of -new governments and societies. -</p> - -<p> -Under the double pressure of Roman Catholicism -and legislation, America became Latinised. It -learned to respect laws and forms, to submit to a -religious as well as a civil discipline. French ideas, -added to these influences, first prepared the way for -the Revolution, and afterwards dominated the mind -of America, from the Declaration of Independence -to our own days. -</p> - -<p> -These ideas constituted a new factor of Latin -development. France is the modern heir of the -genius of Greece and Rome, and in imitating her, -even to excess, Ibero-Americans have assimilated the -essential elements of the antique culture. We find -in the Gallic spirit the sense of taste and harmony, -the <i>lucidus ordo</i> of the classics; the love of general -ideas, of universal principles, of the rights of man, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P287"></a>287}</span> -and a hatred of the mists of the North and the -too violent light of the South; rationalism, logical -vigour, emotion in the presence of beauty, and the -cult of grace. France has been the teacher of social -life and letters to the American democracies; her -influence is already of no recent date. Voltaire and -Rousseau were the theorists of the revolutionary -period; Lamartine taught "lyrism" and romantic -melancholy; Benjamin-Constant, the theory of -politics, and Verlaine the lamentations of decadence. -</p> - -<p> -Either indirectly, through the influence of the -thought and literature of Spain and Portugal, or -directly, these republics have lived by the light of -French ideas. -</p> - -<p> -Thus a general current of thought has arisen on -the American continent which is not merely Iberian, -but also French and Roman. France has effected a -spiritual conquest of these democracies, and has -created a new variety of the Latin spirit. This Latin -spirit is not a thing apart; it is formed of characteristics -common to all the Mediterranean peoples. -French, Greeks, Italians, Portuguese, and Spaniards -find therein the fundamental elements of their -national genius, just as in antiquity the Greek women -found in Helen the reflection of their own beauty. -To this spiritual synthesis Spain contributes her -idealism; Italy, the paganism of her children and the -eternal suggestion of her marbles; France, her -harmonious education. -</p> - -<p> -In the Iberian democracies an inferior Latinity, -a Latinity of the decadence prevails; verbal abundance, -inflated rhetoric, oratorical exaggeration, just -as in Roman Spain. The qualities and defects of the -classic spirit are revealed in American life; the -persistent idealism, which often disdains the conquests -of utility; the ideas of humanity and equality, of -universality, despite racial variety; the cult of form; -the Latin instability and vivacity; the faith in pure -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P288"></a>288}</span> -ideas and political dogmas: all are to be found in -these lands oversea, together with the brilliant and -superficial intelligence, the Jacobinism, and the -oratorical facility. Enthusiasm, sociability, and -optimism are also American qualities. -</p> - -<p> -These republics are not free from any of the -ordinary weaknesses of the Latin races. The State -is omnipotent; the liberal professions are excessively -developed; the power of the bureaucracy becomes -alarming. The character of the average citizen is -weak, inferior to his imagination and intelligence; -ideas of union and the spirit of solidarity have to -contend with the innate indiscipline of the race. -These men, dominated by the solicitations of the -outer world and the tumult of politics, have no inner -life; you will find among them no great mystics, -no great lyrical writers. They meet realities with an -exasperated individualism. -</p> - -<p> -Indisciplined, superficial, brilliant, the South -Americans belong to the great Latin family; they -are the children of Spain, Portugal, and Italy by -blood and by deep-rooted tradition, and by their -general ideas they are the children of France. A -French politician, M. Clemenceau, found in Brazil, -the Argentine, and Uruguay, "a superabundant -Latinism; a Latinism of feeling, a Latinism of -thought and action, with all its immediate and -superficial advantages, and all its defects of method, its -alternatives of energy and failure in the accomplishment -of design." This new American spirit is -indestructible. Contact with Anglo-Saxon civilisation -may partially renew it, but the integral transformation -of the spirit proper to the Latin nations will -never be accomplished. It would be a racial suicide. -Where Yankees and Latin Americans intermingle you -may better observe the insoluble contradictions which -divide them. The Anglo-Saxons are conquering -America commercially and economically, but the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P289"></a>289}</span> -traditions, the ideals, and the soul of these republics -are hostile to them. -</p> - -<p> -The Ibero-American race should seek to correct its -vices without forsaking the framework of tradition -which is proper to it. Without losing its originality -as a nation, France is to-day triumphant in many -departments of sport, and is spending her energy and -inventive genius upon the conquest of the air without -counting the cost; she has made her own victories -which seemed to belong to the Anglo-Saxon. At -the same time, if the American democracies are to -acquire a practical spirit, a persistent activity, and -a virile energy, they must do so without renouncing -their language, their religion, and their history. -</p> - -<p> -The defence of the Latin spirit has become a -duty of primordial importance. Barrès, an -impassioned ideologist, preaches the cult of self as a -remedy for barbarism; no foreign tutelage must -trouble the spontaneous internal revelation. The -republics oversea, wending their way under hostile -or indifferent eyes, <i>sous l'oeil des Barbares</i>, must -cultivate their spiritual originality in the encounter -with inimical forces. -</p> - -<p> -The North American peril, the threat of Germany, -the menace of Japan, surround the future of Latin -America like those mysterious forces which, in the -drama of Maeterlinck, dominate the human stage, -and in silence prepare the way for the great human -tragedies. To defend the traditions of the Latin -continent, it is useful to measure the importance of -the influences which threaten it. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0602"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P290"></a>290}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II -<br /><br /> -THE GERMAN PERIL -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -German Imperialism and the Monroe doctrine—<i>Das Deutschtum</i> -and Southern Brazil—What the Brazilians think about it. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The Teutonic invasion is troubling our -Ibero-American writers. The tutelary protection of the -United States does not suffice to make them forget -the European peril; memories of the Holy Alliance, -of that crusade of religious absolutism and -reconquest, are still lively in Latin America. -</p> - -<p> -Three great nations—England, France, Germany—aspired -to establish their supremacy oversea in a -lasting manner. England, a colonising power in -all parts of the world, thought to rule at Buenos-Ayres; -the defence of that Spanish city by the -Viceroy Liniers was, says Onésime Reclus, the Latin -revenge for the taking of Quebec. France attacked -Mexico, and forced a monarch upon her; England -and a French monarch sent expeditions against the -nationalist dictator Rosas, and Lord Salisbury, in -a diplomatic duel with the North American Secretary -of State, Mr. Olney, attempted to ignore the tutelary -significance of the Monroe doctrine. -</p> - -<p> -The triumphs of these attempts would have founded -in Latin America extensive colonies, proud and -populous. The efforts of the ill-organised republics -could not have prevailed against them. -</p> - -<p> -For the new continent this would have meant a -loss of autonomy; but the Monroe doctrine stood in -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P291"></a>291}</span> -the way of any conquests save those made by the -United States, and a sudden disagreement between -the two invading nations, France and England, in -their campaign against Rosas, caused these attempts -to miscarry. The three Guianas, British Honduras, -and some of the West Indian islands, bear witness -to the ambitions of Europe; they are the scattered -fragments of the empire which the Old World -coveted. Invasions of capital and of merchant vessels -quickly replaced those of warships. -</p> - -<p> -Secretly, without the employment of these warlike -means, Germany began to make herself felt; her -imperialism wore a mercantile disguise, or took the -form of immigration. Persevering Teutonic colonists -made their way toward Brazil, Chili, and Central -America, and although the European peril was over -the German peril survived. Neither Russia, who -possesses vast desert territories in Asia, nor Italy, -whose ambitions are limited to Africa, to Tripoli, -considered the possibility of conquest upon the -American continent. -</p> - -<p> -Against flat invasion by any power the tutelage of -the United States is a protection, but the Monroe -doctrine is powerless against the slow and -imperceptible invasion of German immigration. By virtue -of their capital and their adventurers, Germany -and the United States are slowly occupying South -America; other continents being closed to their -ambitions of expansion, it is in the free territory -of the New World that they found their colonies. -There we find their bankers and merchants, the rude -emissaries of these commercial powers. Americans -and Germans resemble one another by race and in -energy. The Middle West of the United States -was peopled by German emigrants; two imposing -cities, New York and St. Louis, are vast reservoirs -of Teutonic energy. The new empire is actuated -by ambitions similar to those of the United States; -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P292"></a>292}</span> -both are conquering and plutocratic powers. The -German Empire has the passions of a new people; -the active faith, the practical Christianity, the -cult of gold, the instinct of gigantic accumulations, -of cyclopean enterprises, trusts, and combinations, -and the optimism, the anxious desire to -improvise the civilising work of centuries by the -pressure of sheer wealth. The Kaiser and Colonel -Roosevelt, Biblical shepherds of their people, -evangelists of the strenuous life, direct the ardent -industrial evolution of their nations, and establish -a mystic imperialism. It is from this analogy -of tendencies that the future clash will come. -To-day the continual incursion of the United States into -South American affairs and the organised immigration -from Germany are different forms of the same -ambition. -</p> - -<p> -In Guatemala and Costa Rica the influence of -Germany is immense; the importance of her capital -in Central America can only be compared with that -of England in the Argentine. It is valued at -£15,000,000. Germans acquire landed property, -build railroads, and found banks. In these regions -two dominating influences are in conflict: German -imperialism and the Monroe doctrine. The Kaiser -hastens to recognise President Madriz in Nicaragua, -while the revolutionists, protected by the United -States, hasten to deprive him of his ephemeral power. -Dispersed throughout Chili, Venezuela, Peru, and -Central America, the Germans are concentrating in -southern Brazil. They aspire to the integral -colonisation of three Brazilian States—Santa-Catalina, -Parana, and Rio Grande do Sul. Since -1825 a slow current of humanity has invaded these -rich provinces: 350,000 Germans are established -there, where they rule the municipalities, enjoy rights -of self-government, despise the negroes and half-castes, -and live in an aristocratic isolation. They -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P293"></a>293}</span> -have retained the language, traditions, and prejudices -of their native country. In certain colonies of the -South there are only 10 per cent. of Brazilian -citizens; the Germans represent the prevailing race, -the effective nationality. Their efforts further the -territorial ambition of <i>Das Deutschtum</i>. -</p> - -<p> -Economists recommend that the excessive immigration -which constantly pours into the United States -should be directed towards South America. A tenth -part of the population of the United States admits to -a Teutonic origin; there are eight millions of -Germans in the huge northern democracy. Thanks -to affinities of race, or thanks to the assimilative -action of the national spirit, this colossal colony does -not form a State within the State; its members adapt -themselves to the American life, and in the numerous -schools of the country they assimilate an Anglo-Saxon -culture. They do not threaten the normal -development of the republic, as do the negroes of -the South and the Asiatics of the Far West. -</p> - -<p> -In Brazil the Germans occupy eight thousand -square miles of territory. They proudly contrast the -magnificent destinies of the <i>Vaterland</i> with the -turbulent federalism of the Brazilian States. The -colonisation companies affiliated to the powerful and -active banks, in especial the <i>Deutsche Uberseeische -Bank</i>, a marvellous instrument of conquest, are -extending the prosaic Teutonic hegemony through -Brazil and the whole of Latin America. In Chili -Germans direct the education of the country, and -organise the army; just as in the Prussian schools, -they teach an intolerant patriotism and a strongly -nationalistic history. -</p> - -<p> -While the emigrants are realising their imperialistic -Odyssey, German professors are condemning the -Monroe doctrine. Hugo Münsterberg, professor of -philosophy at Harvard, and Adolf Wagner, an economist -of Berlin, regard the Yankee thesis merely as -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P294"></a>294}</span> -a perishable improvisation upon a fragile -foundation. The interest of Germany demands that the -United States should abandon their tutelage, and -that the swarming Germanic legions should invade -the southern continent. Münsterberg writes in his -book <i>The Americans</i> that the Yankee will soon realise -"the error and folly" of his argument, which he -qualifies as a moribund doctrine. No Russian, -French, or Italian colony in South America, he says, -could create difficulties in the United States; but the -doctrine which forbids their establishment will be -the cause of conflicts in the future. If South America -were set free from this tutelage, if its bearing were -limited to Central America, the possibilities of a -conflict between the United States and Europe would -be considerably diminished. Does not this disinterested -counsel conceal a desire to found colonies -upon a continent which the vigilance of the United -States would no longer protect? -</p> - -<p> -An economist who, like Treitschke and Sybel, -believes in the divine mission of the German Empire, -Gustave Schmoller, would like to see a nation of -twenty or thirty millions of inhabitants founded in -Southern Brazil. -</p> - -<p> -Concentrated in the three provinces of Brazil, an -unmixed and hostile race would struggle against -the Brazilian half-breeds and prevail over them, -which is what these professors of conquest desire. -This fruitful invasion would realise the dream -entertained by those rich bankers of Augsburg, the -Velzers, who three centuries ago bought a -Venezuelan province from the Hispano-Germanic -monarch, Charles V. Heirs of this vast abortive -plan, the German financiers of our days dream of -planting a foreign province in the heart of the vast -territory of Brazil. -</p> - -<p> -Brazilian thinkers have protested against this -German conquest in disguise; they recognise the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P295"></a>295}</span> -danger, and seek to avoid it. Sylvio Romero -suggests, as a means of limiting this expansion, the -education of the race along Anglo-Saxon lines, which -would develop the love of initiative and the sense of -effort, a migration of Brazilian proletarians who -should occupy these southern territories and hold -them against the Germans, and finally, the establishment -of military colonies in the threatened regions. -It is the traditional struggle for nationality, for the -possession of the very soil itself. Language is an -instrument of conquest; it is therefore urgent to -enforce the use of Portuguese in the schools of the -South, where the far-sighted colonists teach only -their own tongue. Foreign syndicates acquire large -and numerous stretches of territory; Señor Romero -would have these land trusts inhibited, and would -favour the establishment of indigenous centres among -the German populations, in order to contend with -this perilous invasion by an alien race.[<a id="chap0602fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0602fn1">1</a>] -</p> - -<p> -The national uneasiness has even affected the art -of the country; Graça Aranha has written, in -<i>Canaan</i>, the drama of the contact of races. "For -the moment," says Milkau, the blond invader of the -half-breed country, "we are nothing more than a -solvent acting upon the race of the country. We -are effecting a new conquest, slow, persistent, and -pacific in the means employed, but terrible in its -ambitious intention." Hentz, his companion, proudly -describes the triumph of the white man, and the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P296"></a>296}</span> -expulsion of the "coloured man who was born on -the land." He prophesies a terrible future: "The -Germans will arrive with their thirst for possession -and domination, and their originality, the harsh -originality of barbarians, in unnumbered legions; -they will kill off the sensual and foolish natives who -have built up their societies upon this splendid soil -and have degraded it by their turpitude." -</p> - -<p> -It is the purging of a territory infested by African -slaves. Germany, mother of men without number, -<i>officina et vagina gentium</i>, invades with her blond -legions the land of brown men, sends forth her chaste -Teutons to the conquest of the lascivious forest. -</p> - -<p> -Without denying the reality of this peril, we cannot -but realise that it would be difficult to establish -on Brazilian soil colonies which should reflect the -glory of <i>Das Deutschtum</i>. Already 350,000 Germans -are lost in the national mass; demographically they -signify nothing as against the 19 millions of -Brazilians. To found a colonial empire in the -interior of the Lusitanian Republic it would first -of all be necessary to have a strong basis of -population; the theorists of the Germanic movement of -expansion would dispose of 18 to 20 million -emigrants in these rich southern provinces. Moreover, -the Germanic invasion is not concentrated upon -Brazil. The United States absorb the Germanic -alluvium; and the Brazilian half-breeds being fertile, -the numerical disproportion between the natives and -the blond invaders would in the future be enormous. -</p> - -<p> -On the other hand, the contingent of Teutonic -immigration is diminishing. The modern cities of -industrial Germany are increasing in numbers and -in population; they are absorbing new elements into -their artificial life. The rural multitude which -migrates is changing the direction of its painful -journey; it no longer forsakes its fatherland, but -leaves the silent fields for the enervating life of the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P297"></a>297}</span> -cities. Its taste has become sophisticated; it prefers -urban attractions to the adventures of emigration. -In the last ten years barely 30,000 Germans have -left the <i>Vaterland</i> each year. Not with such scanty -legions as these will Germany establish a centre of -domination oversea, for even these are divided among -the United States, Central America, and Brazil. -</p> - -<p> -The Italians, enriched and triumphant, are -invading the Argentine and Southern Brazil. -Theirs is a current of increasing volume; more -than 50,000 Latins emigrate annually; they adapt -themselves to their new country, acquire immense -stretches of soil, and accumulate enormous fortunes, -until names of foreign origin begin to predominate -in the world of Argentine letters and in the -plutocratic salons of the new continent. They transmit -their Latin heritage to their numerous children. The -stiff-necked group of German colonists cannot -vanquish these races, whose affinities are the same as -those of the natives, and who bring oversea the -sensuality of Naples and the commonsense of Milan. -</p> - -<p> -When German emigration is not excessively -concentrated upon one point it forms laborious and -assimilable populations. The German learns more -readily than the Englishman the language of his -new country; he studies local manners and adopts -them; he brings to the restless and turbulent -democracies of America his deliberation, his spirit of -industry, and his methodical activity. In the -Argentine, in Chili, in Peru, in countries where he -has not yet undertaken to establish the foundation -of an empire, his influence has been fruitful. -</p> - -<p> -The tutelage of the United States seems to us more -dangerous than the German invasion. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0602fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0602fn1text">1</a>] See <i>A America latina</i>, Porto, 1907, p. 323. M. Onésime Reclus -gives the same advice to the Lusitanians of America: "In each -State, in each municipality, let those charged with the partition of -the soil see that they establish no Polish, German, English, or Irish -colonies unless they also establish Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian, -French, and Italian, or analogous colonies; let no colony be formed -exclusively of people of a single nationality, but well divided among -colonists speaking different tongues; and if such a law be strictly -observed Latin America may resist the fatal onset of Slav or German -Europe" (<i>Le Partage du Monde</i>, p. 278). -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0603"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P298"></a>298}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III -<br /><br /> -THE NORTH AMERICAN PERIL -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The policy of the United States—The Monroe doctrine: its various -aspects—Greatness and decadence of the United States—The -two Americas, Latin and Anglo-Saxon. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -To save themselves from Yankee imperialism the -American democracies would almost accept a German -alliance, or the aid of Japanese arms; everywhere -the Americans of the North are feared. In the -Antilles and in Central America hostility against the -Anglo-Saxon invaders assumes the character of a -Latin crusade. Do the United States deserve this -hatred? Are they not, as their diplomatists preach, -the elder brothers, generous and protecting? And -is not protection their proper vocation in a continent -rent by anarchy? -</p> - -<p> -We must define the different aspects of their -activities in South America; a summary examination -of their influence could not fail to be unjust. They -have conquered new territories, but they have upheld -the independence of feeble States; they aspire to -the hegemony of the Latin continent, but this ambition -has prevented numerous and grievous conflicts -between South American nations. The moral pressure -of the United States makes itself felt everywhere; -the imperialist and maternal Republic -intervenes in all the internal conflicts of the -Spanish-speaking democracies. It excites or suppresses -revolutions; it fulfils a high vocation of culture. It -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P299"></a>299}</span> -uses or abuses a privilege which cannot be gainsaid. -The better to protect the Ibero-Americans, it has -proudly raised its Pillars of Hercules against the -ambition of the Old World. -</p> - -<p> -Sometimes this influence becomes a monopoly, and -the United States take possession of the markets of -the South. They aim at making a trust of the South -American republics, the supreme dream of their -multi-millionaire <i>conquistadors</i>. Alberdi has said that there -they are the "Puerto Cabello" of the new America; -that is to say, that they aim, after the Spanish -fashion, at isolating the southern continent and -becoming its exclusive purveyors of ideas and -industries. -</p> - -<p> -Their supremacy was excellent when it was a -matter of basing the independence of twenty republics -of uncertain future upon a solid foundation. The -neo-Saxons did not then intervene in the wars of the -South; they remained neutral and observed the peace -which Washington had advocated. They proclaimed -the autonomy of the continent, and contributed to -conserve the originality of Southern America by -forbidding the formation of colonies in its empty -territories, and by defending the republican and -democratic States against reactionary Europe. -</p> - -<p> -But who will deliver the Ibero-Americans from the -excess of this influence? <i>Quis custodiet custodem?</i> An -irresponsible supremacy is perilous. -</p> - -<p> -Naturally, in the relations of the United States and -the nations of the South actions do not always -correspond with words; the art of oratory is lavish with -a fraternal idealism, but strong wills enforce their -imperialistic ambitions. Although fully attentive to -the fair-sounding promises of the North, the statesmen -of the South refuse to believe in the friendship -of the Yankees; being perturbed by the memory of -ancient and recent conquests, these peoples perhaps -exaggerate the danger which might come from the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P300"></a>300}</span> -North. A blind confidence and an excessive timidity -are equally futile. -</p> - -<p> -In 1906, at the conference of Rio de Janeiro, -Secretary Root, in the presence of assembled America, -was the lay prophet of the new gospel. -</p> - -<p> -"We do not wish," he said, "to win victories, -we desire no territory but our own, nor a sovereignty -more extensive than that which we desire to retain -over ourselves. We consider that the independence -and the equal rights of the smallest and weakest -members of the family of nations deserve as much -respect as those of the great empires. We pretend -to no right, privilege, or power that we do not freely -concede to each one of the American Republics." This -was the solemn declaration of a Puritan -politician; Mr. Root continues the noble tradition -of Washington, Jefferson, and Hamilton. -</p> - -<p> -Ten years earlier another secretary, Mr. Olney, -declared to Lord Salisbury that the great Anglo-Saxon -Republic was practically sovereign—paramount -was his word—on the American continent, and that -its fiat was law in affairs which called for its -intervention. Which is the truth: the imperialistic -declarations of Mr. Olney or the idealism of Mr. Root? -</p> - -<p> -Against the policy of respect for Latin liberties -are ranged the instincts of a triumphant plutocracy. -The centre of North American life is passing from -Boston to Chicago; the citadel of the ideal gives -way to the material progress of the great porcine -metropolis. There is a conflict of dissimilar currents -of morality. The Puritan tradition of New England -seems useless in the struggle of the Far West; the -conquest of the desert demands another morality; -the morality of conflict, aggression, and success. The -trusts raise their heads above the impotent clamour -of the weak. The conflict between the new-comers -is tumultuous and brutal; as in the time of imperial -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P301"></a>301}</span> -Rome, the latter-day republicans are becoming aware -of their defeat by a new caste, animated by an -impetuous love of conflict. It is the struggle between -idealism and plutocracy, between the tradition of the -Pilgrim Fathers and the morality of Wall Street; -the patricians of the Senate and the bosses of -Tammany Hall. -</p> - -<p> -The great historical parties are divided; while the -democrats do not forget the ideal of Washington and -Lincoln, the republicans think only of imperialism. -</p> - -<p> -Will a generous <i>élite</i> succeed in withstanding this -racial tendency? Perhaps, but nothing can check -the onward march of the United States. Their -imperialism is an unavoidable phenomenon. -</p> - -<p> -The nation which was peopled by nine millions -of men in 1820 now numbers eighty millions—an -immense demographic power; in the space of ten -years, from 1890 to 1900, this population increased -by one-fifth. By virtue of its iron, wheat, oil, and -cotton, and its victorious industrialism, the democracy -aspires to a world-wide significance of destiny; the -consciousness of its powers is creating fresh -international duties. Yankee pride increases with the -endless multiplication of wealth and population, and -the patriotic sentiment has reached such an intensity -that it has become transformed into imperialism. -</p> - -<p> -The United States buy the products they themselves -lack from the tropical nations. To rule in these -fertile zones would to them appear the geographical -ideal of a northern people. Do not their industries -demand new outlets in America and Asia? So to -the old mystic ambition are added the necessities of -utilitarian progress. An industrial nation, the States -preach a practical Christianity to the older -continents, to Europe, and to lands yet barbarous, as to -South America; they profess a doctrine of aggressive -idealism, a strange fusion of economic tendencies -and Puritan fervour. The Christian Republic imposes -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P302"></a>302}</span> -its tutelage upon inferior races, and so prepares them -for self-government. -</p> - -<p> -This utilitarian and mystical expansion is opposed -to the primitive simplicity of the Monroe doctrine. -In 1823, to counter the political methods of the Holy -Alliance, President Monroe upheld the republican -integrity of the ancient Spanish colonies. The -celebrated message declared that there were no free -territories in America, thus condemning in advance -any projected establishment of European colonies -upon the unoccupied continent of America, and that -the United States limited their political action to the -New World, and renounced all intervention in the -disputes of Europe. -</p> - -<p> -At the close of the last century the political -absolutism of the Holy Alliance was only a memory; -democracy is progressing, even in the heart of the -most despotic of monarchies, and France is -republican. Europe, after the tragic adventure of the -Mexican Empire, abandoned her expeditions of conquest. -The United States, forgetting their initial -isolation, intervened in the politics of the world; they -defended the integrity of China, took part in the -conference of Algeciras, and maintained peace in the -East. Like the character in Terence, nothing in the -world leaves them unconcerned. The two bases of -the Monroe doctrine, the absolutism of Europe and -the isolation of the United States, exist no longer, -but the Monroe doctrine persists indefinitely. "If," -says Mr. Coolidge, professor of political law at the -University of Harvard, "if, by his principles, the -American finds himself drawn to conclusions which -do not please him, he ordinarily revolts, forsakes his -promises, and jumps to conclusions that suit him -better." To the logic of the Latins Americans and -Englishmen oppose utility, common sense, instinct. -</p> - -<p> -The Monroe doctrine has undergone an essential -transformation; it has passed successively from the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P303"></a>303}</span> -defensive to intervention and thence to the offensive. -From a theory which condemned any change of -political <i>régime</i> among the new democracies under -European pressure, and which forbade all acquisitions -of territory, or the transfer of power from a weak -to a strong nation, there arose the Polk doctrine, -which, in 1845, decreed the annexation of Texas -for fear of foreign intervention. In 1870 President -Grant demanded the seizure of San Domingo as a -measure of national protection, a new corollary of the -Monroe doctrine. President Johnson was anxious -to see his country in possession of Cuba in the name -of the "laws of political gravitation which throw -small States into the gullets of the great powers." In -1895 Secretary of State Olney, at the time of -the trouble between England and Venezuela, declared -that the United States were in fact sovereign in -America. From Monroe to Olney the defensive -doctrine has gradually changed to a moral tutelage. -</p> - -<p> -If theories change, frontiers change no less. The -northern Republic has been the beneficiary of an -incessant territorial expansion: in 1813 it acquired -Louisiana; in 1819, Florida; in 1845 and 1850, -Texas; the Mexican provinces in 1848 and 1852; -and Alaska in 1858. The annexation of Hawaii took -place in 1898. In the same year Porto Rico, the -Philippines, Guam, and one of the Marianne Islands, -passed, by the Treaty of Paris, into the hands of the -United States. They obtained the Samoan Islands in -1890, wished to buy the Danish West Indies in -1902, and planted their imperialistic standard at -Panama in 1903. -</p> - -<p> -Interventions have become more frequent with the -expansion of frontiers. The United States have -recently intervened in the territory of Acre, there -to found a republic of rubber gatherers; at Panama, -there to develop a province and construct a canal; -in Cuba, under cover of the Platt amendment, to -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P304"></a>304}</span> -maintain order in the interior; in San Domingo, to -support the civilising revolution and overthrow the -tyrants; in Venezuela, and in Central America, to -enforce upon these nations, torn by intestine disorders, -the political and financial tutelage of the imperial -democracy. In Guatemala and Honduras the loans -concluded with the monarchs of North American -finance have reduced the people to a new slavery. -Supervision of the customs and the dispatch of -pacificatory squadrons to defend the interests of the -Anglo-Saxon have enforced peace and tranquillity: such -are the means employed. The <i>New York American</i> -announces that Mr. Pierpont Morgan proposes to -encompass the finances of Latin America by a vast -network of Yankee banks. Chicago merchants and -Wall Street financiers created the Meat Trust in -the Argentine. The United States offer millions for -the purpose of converting into Yankee loans the -moneys raised in London during the last century by -the Latin American States; they wish to obtain a -monopoly of credit. It has even been announced, -although the news hardly appears probable, that a -North American syndicate wished to buy enormous -belts of land in Guatemala, where the English -tongue is the obligatory language. The fortification -of the Panama Canal, and the possible acquisition -of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific, are fresh -manifestations of imperialistic progress. -</p> - -<p> -The Monroe doctrine takes an aggressive form -with Mr. Roosevelt, the politician of the "big stick," -and intervention <i>à outrance</i>. Roosevelt is conscious -of his sacred mission; he wants a powerful army, -and a navy majestically sailing the two oceans. His -ambitions find an unlooked-for commentary in a book -by Mr. Archibald Coolidge, the Harvard professor, -upon the United States as a world-power. He therein -shows the origin of the disquietude of the South -Americans before the Northern peril: "When two -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P305"></a>305}</span> -contiguous States," he writes, "are separated by a -long line of frontiers and one of the two rapidly -increases, full of youth and vigour, while the other -possesses, together with a small population, rich and -desirable territories, and is troubled by continual -revolutions which exhaust and weaken it, the first -will inevitably encroach upon the second, just as -water will always seek to regain its own level." -</p> - -<p> -He recognises the fact that the progress accomplished -by the United States is not of a nature to -tranquillise the South American; "that the Yankee -believes that his southern neighbours are trivial and -childish peoples, and above all incapable of -maintaining a proper self-government." He thinks the -example of Cuba, liberated "from the rule of Spain, -but not from internal troubles, will render the -American of the States sceptical as to the aptitude -of the Latin-American populations of mixed blood to -govern themselves without disorder," and recognises -that the "pacific penetration" of Mexico by American -capital constitutes a possible menace to the -independence of that Republic, were the death of Diaz -to lead to its original state of anarchy and disturb the -peace which the millionaires of the North desire to -see untroubled. -</p> - -<p> -Warnings, advice, distrust, invasion of capital, -plans of financial hegemony—all these justify the -anxiety of the southern peoples. -</p> - -<p> -The people of the United States have always -desired a <i>Zollverein</i>, a fiscal union of all the -Republics; they wish to gather into their imperial hands -the commerce of the South, the produce of the -tropics. The unity of the German Empire was born -of a <i>Zollverein</i> or customs union, and perhaps in -the future the same means will create that eternal -empire of which the patriotism of Mr. Chamberlain -used to dream. The United States, according to -candid Professor Coolidge, are, in respect of Latin -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P306"></a>306}</span> -America, in a position analogous to that of Russia -in respect of the nations of the <i>Zollverein</i>: their -population is greater and more imposing. "History -shows us," he writes, "that when feeble states and -powerful states are closely associated the independence -of the weak states runs certain risks."[<a id="chap0603fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0603fn1">1</a>] The -Yankee ideal, then, is fatally contrary to -Latin-American independence. -</p> - -<p> -For geographical reasons, and on account of its -very inferiority, South America cannot dispense with -the influence of the Anglo-Saxon North, with its -exuberant wealth and its industries. South America -has need of capital, of enterprising men, of bold -explorers, and these the United States supply in -abundance. The defence of the South should consist -in avoiding the establishment of privileges or -monopolies, whether in favour of North Americans -or Europeans. -</p> - -<p> -It is essential to understand not only the foundations -of North American greatness, but also the weaknesses -of the Anglo-Saxon democracy, in order to -escape from the dangers of excessive imitation. -</p> - -<p> -The Anglo-Saxons of America have created an -admirable democracy upon a prodigious expanse of -territory. A caravan of races has pitched its tents -from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and has watered -the desert with its impetuous blood. Dutch, French, -Anglo-Saxons, and Germans, people of all sects, -Quakers, Presbyterians, Catholics, Puritans, all have -mingled their creeds in a single multiform nation. -At the contact of new soil men have felt the pride of -creation and of living. Initiative, self-assertion, -self-reliance, audacity, love of adventure, all the forms -of the victorious will are united in this Republic -of energy. A triumphant optimism quickens the -rhythm of life; an immense impulse of creation -builds cities in the wilderness, and founds new -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P307"></a>307}</span> -plutocracies amidst the whirlpool of the markets. -Workshops, factories, banks; the obscure unrest of -Wall Street; the architectural insolence of the -skyscraper; the many-coloured, material West; all -mingle perpetually in the wild, uncouth hymn which -testifies the desperate battle of will and destiny, of -generation against death. Poets have exalted the -greatness of America. Hear Walt Whitman, the -bard of this advancing democracy:— -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Long, too long, America....<br /> - For who except myself has yet conceived<br /> - What your children <i>en masse</i> really are?<br /> - They will make the most splendid race the sun<br /> - Ever shone upon,"<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -he cries, in his free rhythms. -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "O mother of a mighty race!"<br /> -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -said Bryant, celebrating the glories of North -America, and the fastidious Whittier would have the -United States excel the Old World on its own -ground: -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "And cast in some diviner mould<br /> - Lest the new cycle shame the old."<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -They have reconciled equality with liberty, in -manners and in law. Fair play, the identical chances -which the Republic offers her citizens, in creating -schools, in fostering the advance of self-made men -in society, constitutes the firmest foundation of the -life of a republic. Equity and equality prevail above -the eager onrush of her citizens; equality in -industrial struggles against monopolies; equality in the -churches in place of intolerance; equality in school -instead of the privileges created by wealth. This -persistent exaltation of liberty matches the sentiment -of social discipline. The Germanic sense of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P308"></a>308}</span> -organisation is added to the Anglo-Saxon individualism; -associations multiply and become a gigantic network -spread over the entire face of the country; clubs, -leagues, societies of co-operation and production and -philanthropic institutions. -</p> - -<p> -But this civilisation, in which men of strong vitality -win wealth, invent machines, create new cities, and -profess a Christianity full of energy and accomplishment, -has not the majesty of a harmonious structure. -It is the violent work of a people of various origin, -which has not yet been ennobled by the <i>patina</i> of -tradition and time. In the cities which restless -workers hastily raise on barren soil, one can as yet -perceive no definitive unity. Race antagonism disturbs -North America; the negroes swarm in the South; -Japanese and Orientals aspire to the conquest of the -West. Neo-Saxon civilisation is still seeking its final -form, and in the meantime it is piling up wealth amid -the prevailing indiscipline. "We find in the United -States," says M. André Chevrillon, "a political -system, but not a social organisation." The -admirable traditions of Hamilton and Jefferson have been -subjected to the onslaught of new influences, the -progress of plutocracy, the corruption of the administrative -functions, the dissolution of parties, the abuse -of the power of monopolies. The axis of the great -nation is becoming displaced towards the West, and -each step in advance marks the triumph of vulgarity. -</p> - -<p> -An octopus of a city, New York, might be taken -as the symbol of this extraordinary nation; it -displays the vertigo, the audacity, and all the lack of -proportion that characterise American life. Near the -poverty of the Ghetto and the disturbing spectacle -of Chinatown you may admire the wealth of Fifth -Avenue and the marble palaces which plagiarise the -architecture of the Tuscan cities. Opposite the -obscure crowds of emigrants herded in the docks -you will see the refined luxury of the plutocratic -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P309"></a>309}</span> -hotels, and facing the majestic buildings of Broadway, -the houses of the parallel avenues, which are like the -temporary booths of a provincial fair. Confusion, -uproar, instability—these are the striking -characteristics of the North American democracy. Neither -irony nor grace nor scepticism, gifts of the old -civilisations, can make way against the plebeian -brutality, the excessive optimism, the violent -individualism of the people. -</p> - -<p> -All these things contribute to the triumph of -mediocrity; the multitude of primary schools, the vices of -utilitarianism, the cult of the average citizen, the -transatlantic M. Homais, and the tyranny of opinion -noted by Tocqueville; and in this vulgarity, which is -devoid of traditions and has no leading aristocracy, a -return to the primitive type of the redskin, which has -already been noted by close observers, is threatening -the proud democracy. From the excessive tension of -wills, from the elementary state of culture, from the -perpetual unrest of life, from the harshness of the -industrial struggle, anarchy and violence will be born -in the future. In a hundred years men will seek -in vain for the "American soul," the "genius of -America," elsewhere than in the indisciplined force -or the violence which ignores moral laws. -</p> - -<p> -Among the Anglo-Saxon nations individualism -finds its limits in the existence of a stable home; it -may also struggle against the State, according to the -formula consecrated by Spencer, "the man versus -the State." It defends its jealous autonomy from -excessive legislation, from the intervention of the -Government in economic conflicts or the life of the -family. And it is precisely the family spirit which is -becoming enfeebled in North America, under the -pressure of new social conditions. The birth-rate -is diminishing, and the homes of foreign immigrants -are contributing busily to the formation of the new -generations; the native stock inheriting good racial -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P310"></a>310}</span> -traditions would seem to be submerged more and -more by the new human tide. A North American -official writes that "the decrease in the birth-rate will -lead to a complete change in the social system of -the Republic."[<a id="chap0603fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0603fn2">2</a>] From this will result the abandonment -of the traditional austerity of the race, and the -old notions of sacrifice and duty. The descendants -of alien races will constitute the nation of the future. -The national heritage is threatened by the invasion of -Slavs and Orientals, and the fecundity of the negroes; -a painful anxiety weighs upon the destinies of the -race. -</p> - -<p> -The family is unstable, and divorces are increasing -at an extraordinary rate. Between 1870 and 1905 -the population doubled; during the same period the -divorces increased sixfold and the marriages -decreased. There is no fixity in the elements of -variety, and the causes of this state of transition will -not disappear, as they are intimately allied with the -development of the industrial civilisation which has -brought with it a new ideal of happiness. By -emancipating men and women from the old moral principles -it has modified sexual morality; by accelerating -social progress it has brought an additional bitterness -into the social mêlée, a greater egoism into human -conflict. -</p> - -<p> -Excessive and heterogeneous immigration prevents -any final crystallisation; in the last ten years -8,515,000 strangers have entered into the great -hospitable Union. They came from Germany, Ireland, -Russia, or Southern Italy. It is calculated that the -United States are able to assimilate 150,000 to -200,000 immigrants each year, but they certainly -cannot welcome such an overwhelming host without -anxiety. -</p> - -<p> -Criminality increases; the elaboration of a -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P311"></a>311}</span> -common type among these men of different origin -is proceeding more slowly. Doubtless beneath the -shelter of the political federation of the various States -a confused agglomeration of races is forming itself, -and this justifies the query of Professor Ripley: -"The Americans of the North," he says, "have -witnessed the disappearance of the Indians and the -buffalo, but can they be certain to-day that the -Anglo-Saxons will survive them?" -</p> - -<p> -In seeking to imitate the United States we should -not forget that the civilisation of the peoples of the -North presents these symptoms of decadence. -</p> - -<p> -Europe offers the Latin-American democracies -what the latter demand of Anglo-Saxon America, -which was formed in the school of Europe. We find -the practical spirit, industrialism, and political liberty -in England; organisation and education in Germany; -and in France inventive genius, culture, wealth, great -universities, and democracy. From these ruling -peoples the new Latin world must indirectly receive -the legacy of Western civilisation. -</p> - -<p> -Essential points of difference separate the two -Americas. Differences of language and therefore of -spirit; the difference between Spanish Catholicism -and the multiform Protestantism of the Anglo-Saxons; -between the Yankee individualism and the -omnipotence of the State natural to the nations of -the South. In their origin, as in their race, we find -fundamental antagonisms; the evolution of the North -is slow and obedient to the lessons of time, to the -influences of custom; the history of the southern -peoples is full of revolutions, rich with dreams of -an unattainable perfection. -</p> - -<p> -The people of the United States hate the half-breed, -and the impure marriages of whites and blacks -which take place in Southern homes; no manifestation -of Pan-Americanism could suffice to destroy the -racial prejudice as it exists north of Mexico. The -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P312"></a>312}</span> -half-breeds and their descendants govern the -Ibero-American democracies, and the Republic of English -and German origin entertains for the men of the -tropics the same contempt which they feel for the -slaves of Virginia whom Lincoln liberated. -</p> - -<p> -In its friendship for them there will always be -disdain; in their progress, a conquest; in their policy, -a desire of hegemony. It is the fatality of blood, -stronger than political affinities or geographical -alliances. -</p> - -<p> -Instead of dreaming of an impossible fusion the -Neo-Latin peoples should conserve the traditions -which are proper to them. The development of the -European influences which enrich and improve them, -the purging of the nation from the stain of miscegenation, -and immigration of a kind calculated to form -centres of resistance against any possibilities of -conquest, are the various aspects of this Latin -Americanism.[<a id="chap0603fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0603fn3">3</a>] -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0603fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0603fn1text">1</a>] The United States as World-Power. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0603fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0603fn2text">2</a>] <i>Race Improvement in the United States</i>. Academy of Political -and Social Science, Philadelphia, 1909, pp. 70-1 <i>et seq</i>. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0603fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0603fn3text">3</a>] The Mexican sociologist, F. Bulnes, writes in his book, <i>L'Avenir -des nations Hispano-Americaines</i>: "It is more than probable that by -1980 the United States will hold a population of 250,000,000 -inhabitants. They will then scarcely be sufficient for the needs of this -population, and will no longer be able to supply the world with the -vast quantity of cereals which they supply to-day. They will -therefore have to choose between a recourse to the methods of intensive -culture and the conquest of the extra-tropical lands of Latin -America, which are fitted, by their conditions, to the easy and -inexpensive production of excellent cereals." -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0604"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P313"></a>313}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER IV -<br /><br /> -A POLITICAL EXPERIMENT: CUBA -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The work of Spain—The North American reforms—The future. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -By turns Spanish and North American, and frequently -disturbed by the conflict of these two Americanisms, -the history of the "pearl of the Antilles" -has been a long political experiment. Its result, the -success of one method or the other, will prove the -aptitude or the incapacity of the Latins of America -in the art of organising a State or instituting a -Republic. -</p> - -<p> -The last colony, the final vestige of the vast -Spanish Empire overseas, Cuba still betrayed, towards -the end of the nineteenth century, the political -and moral influence of the mother country. The -exuberant and classic land of tobacco and sugar, its -tropical opulence attracted pioneers and colonists. -Spain therefore fought to retain this country, which -she granted in recompense of the audacity of her -adventurers and the rapacity of her officials. -</p> - -<p> -Its geographical situation, its wealth, its traditions, -are all exceptional. The race, imaginative and -precocious, is fertile in poets, heroes, and orators. We -see generals of thirty, poetical swordsmen, divided -between their battles and their verses; irreducible -guerillas, orators full of tropical eloquence, -passionate pilgrims, who wander through America relating -the miseries of the Spanish tyranny: a gloomy tale -which has made the liberated democracies attentive -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P314"></a>314}</span> -to the fate of their captive sister. Thus Europe used -to shudder at the fate of Poland or Ireland. -Astonishingly audacious were these soldiers—Garcia, -Maceo, Gomez—who defended the national liberty -to the death; bitter were the battles, the hand-to-hand -conflicts, the wars of skirmishes and outposts. -Of the high lineage of Bolivar, San Martin, and Sucre, -the last of the Liberators, at once poet, statesman, -and warrior, a Gothic knight enamoured of an ideal -Dulcinea—the autonomy of Cuba—Marti was the -representative leader of the nation. -</p> - -<p> -As in the other colonies, freed a century earlier, -the action of Spain in Cuba was at once fertile and -limited, useful and disastrous. What effort could -be more paradoxical than that of loading with fetters, -with prohibitions and monopolies, the very cities -whose birth and development was the work of Spain? -Authoritatively she sought to stamp out the longing -for liberty, and in this island consumed by racial -hatred—the old hatred of the conquerors and the -Creoles—she responded to every revolutionary -demand for independence by a terrible policy of -repression. One of her governors left the bloody -traces of an Alva, the pacificator of Flanders. -</p> - -<p> -In Madrid a great minister, Canovas del Castillo, -an uncompromising traditionalist, believed that Spain -should possess a colonial empire "to preserve her -position in the world." From that time only -energetic action in the revolted islands could save -the metropolis. Already, in 1865, at the beginning -of his career, he wished to limit the representation -of Cuba and Porto Rico; and in 1868, when the long -war broke out, he supported the demands of the -9,000 Spaniards who demanded the rejection of all -reform.[<a id="chap0604fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0604fn1">1</a>] Once in power, in 1876, Canovas was -still more emphatic; the Cuban problem was to be -solved only by violence. The generosity of Martinez -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P315"></a>315}</span> -Campos was followed by the inflexible severity of -governors who turned the island into a vast barracks. -The timid liberties granted to Zanjon were soon -suppressed; neither popular elections nor commercial -liberties were allowed, but martial law, and a -general to aid the Spaniards of the island in their -war against the Creoles and mulattos. -</p> - -<p> -In 1878 the first civil war was over, but in 1895 -the revolt was so successful, so popular, so terrible, -that Martinez Campos abandoned the government -of the island, feeling himself incapable of "wholesale -shootings and other feats of the same kind." Marti, -tragic symbol of revolt, was killed. General -Weyler installed a Reign of Terror; the island -was exhausted. No one could dislodge the guerillas -from the plantations of sugar-cane which served them -as refuge. Weyler ordered a "concentration" of -women, children, and the non-combatants in the -fortified cities. Offences of opinion were punished -by death, and absolute submission was demanded. -The intervention of the United States forced Spain -to grant a brittle autonomy in 1896. The -assassination of Canovas by an anarchist permitted a -reaction against his uncompromising ideals, and an -offer was made of a constitution, and of elective -chambers, without, however, authority over the -governor sent by the metropolis, and a Council of -Administration, to which the Cubans would have -access; but economic interests were ignored and -sugar and tobacco were not set free. -</p> - -<p> -Cuba was awaiting her crusader, her Lohengrin. -The United States filled the <i>rôle</i>. Attentive to the -affairs of the island, they negotiated, arranged for -intervention with non-official agents, and New York -began to fit out filibustering expeditions. The -incidents of the Yankee campaign against Spain are -well known, from the sinking of the <i>Maine</i> by an -explosion in Havana roadstead to the Treaty of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P316"></a>316}</span> -Paris. Once their rival was vanquished would the -States give Cuba her longed-for liberty? Porto Rico -was conquered and Cuba obtained only a mediocre -autonomy. -</p> - -<p> -Here is a difficult question: what was it that -impelled the Americans to undertake the adventure: -imperialistic ambition or chivalrous impulse, as -many Cubans still believe? The opinion of their -politicians was always clear; annexation of the -island or preservation of the <i>status quo</i>. They -feared that Spain might cede the colony to a power -better armed than herself, and Cuba, since the time -of Jefferson, had been reckoned among those countries -which a "law of political gravitation" should -eventually give them. An eminent Brazilian historian -and diplomatist, Oliveira Lima, has even demonstrated -that when Bolivar, after convoking the Congress -of Panama in 1826, had thereupon proposed, -as the last stage of his vast epic, to give liberty -to Cuba, it was the United States that prevented -him. For they knew that independence would also -mean the enfranchisement of subject races, and they -needed slaves for the proud and wealthy feudal -State of Virginia. These tropical countries, Cuba -and Porto Rico, were the promised prey of a future -Federal imperialism, and Spain might remain their -guardian until the States could demand their cession -or undertake their conquest. -</p> - -<p> -Thus the very interest which in 1826 vetoed the -independence of Cuba was later to give the choice -between autonomy or war; a dilemma from which -the haughty metropolis could not escape. Between -the commercial brutality of old and this recent -Quixotism there is only an apparent contrast: a -hidden logic has guided American policy. If we -consider the end in view—to assure the incontestable -control of the Caribbean Sea, by purchase or -annexation of its islands—the former attitude of a -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P317"></a>317}</span> -country which had not yet peopled its own territory, -and that provoked to-day by a plethora of wealth -and men, no longer appear irreconcilable. -</p> - -<p> -As early as 1845 the purchase of Cuba was -discussed in Washington. The famous "Ostend -manifesto" (1854) issued by the American diplomatists, -expounded their right to seize the island in case -Spain should refuse to sell it. This resolution to -give independence to a country they despaired of -buying was therefore only the end of a long -campaign. -</p> - -<p> -Certainly in 1898, once peace was signed and -Porto Rico conquered, they respected this independence. -But their detachment was incomplete; they -occupied the island, sent governors thither, and -generously reformed the finances, education, and -hygiene of the country. A provisional tutelage, soon -followed by the proclamation of the Republic. Was -this the independence of which Marti had dreamed? -The treaty which proclaimed it also limited it; the -Platt amendment found its way into the margin of -a liberal text, reserving to the United States the right -of intervention to remedy any possible anarchy. A -strange severity, to demand of an untried tropical -republic, where the hostility of castes was extreme, -a serene and untroubled existence! Eventual military -occupation for the purpose of suppressing revolts -would be a dangerous snare to independence. -Intervention in the public affairs of the old Spanish -colony, twice repeated, was both times followed by -a campaign of annexation in the Yellow Press. It -is difficult to guess whether Yankee imperialism, with -its ever-increasing appetite, will respect the autonomy -of the island in the face of periodic occupations. It -will probably prefer a protectorate or a final conquest -when wearied of the turbulence of a democracy -incapable of self-government. -</p> - -<p> -Will this beautiful island one day become a State -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P318"></a>318}</span> -of the Anglo-Saxon or Federal Union? The accession -of the Cubans to this democracy would cause a -disturbance in the political and social world as profound -as that created by Japanese immigration in the Far -West. The plutocrats of the States have too much -contempt for half-breeds and negroes willingly to -accept deputies from a country where the profound -admixture of races contains an important African -element; a society which despises the negro cannot -wholly agree with one ruled largely by Spanish -half-castes of Indian and African ancestry. The -protectorate would be a step toward the control of -the Tropics which Mr. Benjamin Kidd and other -English sociologists imagine to be the appanage of -their race. -</p> - -<p> -The civilising work of the United States has been -admirable. Once Spain was defeated and her -colony conquered, they transformed the education, -finance, and hygiene of the island to prepare the -people for the liberty they ignored. It was four -years before they gave it; four years of pedagogy, -of which Brigadier-General Wood, military and civil -chief, was in charge, until on the 20th of May, -1902, "thanks to the goodwill of President Roosevelt, -we were recognised as having attained our -majority."[<a id="chap0604fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0604fn2">2</a>] -</p> - -<p> -Four years of extraordinary activity transformed -the exhausted island into a prosperous country, a -reform which we may follow in the memoirs of -General Wood. Two years of endeavour extirpated -the yellow fever, which had prevailed in Havana -since 1762. The Yankees fought the mosquitos, -the vehicles of the disease, and their sanitary works -and measures decreased the death-rate from 91.3 -per 1,000 in 1898 to 20.63 in 1902. In the same -period the deaths among the American troops fell -from 91.03 to 20.68. They also attacked malaria -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P319"></a>319}</span> -and tuberculosis, until Havana, as one of them -proudly writes, became one of the healthiest cities -of America. -</p> - -<p> -Pavements, gutters, sewers, the demolition of old -buildings and the construction of new; asylums, -hospitals, and prisons, gave the island an aspect -at once modern and sanitary. The fiscal revenues, -formerly badly employed by an unskilful bureaucracy, -found useful employment; dilapidations were -noted and a railway statute was passed. The -Yankees opened up new roads, knowing how far -the prosperity of the island depended on them; in -1906, the second year of the occupation, there were -only 610 kilometres of carriage-roads in Cuba, while -Jamaica, with one-fifth the area, had 10,113.[<a id="chap0604fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0604fn3">3</a>] -</p> - -<p> -Communications being thus improved, the sugar -industry, on which the prosperity of the island -depends, developed rapidly. The visitors did not forget -to attract immigrants and to reconstruct the ports. -</p> - -<p> -The government of General Wood installed modern -schools in the old Spanish school-houses, while it -built special schools, kindergartens, and technical -colleges in the large towns. -</p> - -<p> -Under the Spaniards education was obligatory, no -doubt, but it was the Americans who brought a -lapsed law into force. Fines punished parental -neglect. A thousand teachers went to Harvard, in -the year 1900 alone, sent thither by General Wood -to improve their methods of teaching; new pedagogic -methods and a wider culture strongly modified social -and political life. The Americans left ten times -as many schools as they found, and an education -adequate to the race and the Cuban child, who is -"impressionable, nervous, and furiously imaginative." -</p> - -<p> -Governor Wood requested his country to reduce by -one-half the customs rates upon the coffee, fruits, and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P320"></a>320}</span> -sugar which the island produced, as the basis of -a <i>Zollverein</i> profitable to both countries. He -complained, in his memoir, of the indifference of the -wealthy towards the communal and political life, -which he wished to render more active. A law -passed by him regulated the elections in the new -Republic. -</p> - -<p> -The Cubans willingly recognise that the Americans -have performed an excellent work in education -and finance, but accuse them of having provoked -in political life a corruption analogous to that of -the leaders or bosses of Tammany Hall, which -replaces violence by fraud. It is difficult to speak -of such a matter, but perhaps the reaction against -these dangerous methods was insufficient. In 1906, -after four years of independent life, President -Estrada Palma demanded intervention. It must be -recognised that the Americans did not respond -without some uneasiness. Mr. Roosevelt, in a letter to -the Cuban diplomatist Gonzalo de Quesada, gave -some admirable advice: "I solemnly exhort the -Cuban patriots," he said, "to form a close union, -to forget their personal differences and ambitions, -and to remember that they have one means of -safeguarding the independence of the Republic: to -evade, at all costs, the necessity of foreign -intervention, intended to deliver them from civil war and -anarchy." -</p> - -<p> -Heedless of the voice of the shepherd of the -American people, they asked him to put an end to -the long quarrel between the liberals and the -moderates. The Americans occupied the island for -a year; Mr. Taft, the new President, was one of -the pacificators. It is difficult to judge whether -the anarchical inhabitants of the island have gained -ground since the departure of the Americans. One -of their most remarkable politicians, Señor Mendez -Capote, believes that in Cuba—and more generally -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P321"></a>321}</span> -in any very young country where the government -has need of an unfailing authority in order to check -discord—representatives of one or both parties ought -to belong to the Cabinet in order to render political -life less changeable and to decrease its contrasts.[<a id="chap0604fn4text"></a><a href="#chap0604fn4">4</a>] This -organisation is impossible in a democracy which -passes alternately from revolt to dictatorship. -</p> - -<p> -Some Cubans, satisfied with the material progress -effected, would prefer annexation. Others, and -among them one of the most remarkable writers of -the country, Señor Jesus Castellanos, are never tired, -remembering their happy intervention, of calling the -United States, "the great sister Republic." Certainly -the States have given Cuba autonomy, but was -it not a treacherous gift? <i>Timeo Danaos et dona -ferentes</i>. The historic interest of Cuba for the -Americans is to-day increased by imperialistic ambitions. -A Harvard professor, Mr. Coolidge, writes in a book -already cited: "A glance at the map is enough to -show us how important the island is to the United -States. Of great value by virtue of its natural -resources and its temperate climate, it is strategically -the key to the Gulf of Mexico, where the Mississippi -Valley terminates facing the Caribbean Sea -and the future Panama Canal. Its situation is -comparable to that of Crete in the Eastern -Mediterranean." -</p> - -<p> -The danger is therefore serious; the island is -already in the lion's mouth. Only a skilful policy -can keep the hope of deliverance alive. The servitude -offered by the modern Cyclops is only a gilded pill; -and to swallow it the merchants of the island would -willingly forget their national pride. Analysing -Rodo's book, Señor Castellanos has denounced the -excessive utilitarianism of these men, without idealism, -and full of a cupidity and gross materialism, which -makes any collective effort towards national unity -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P322"></a>322}</span> -impossible. Poets and dreamers, the Cubans would -need to undergo some prodigious change before one -could interest them in action, before they could understand -in the medley of political conflict what is really -in the interests of the country; before they could -establish political solidarity in the place of anarchy, -and temper their easy confidence in the Yankee by -a necessary and self-preserving scepticism. Could -they ever transform their intellectual gifts into a -less showy but more efficacious capacity for conflict -and discipline? Will they acquire a sense of reality? -Cuba should serve the rest of Latin America as a -kind of experimental object-lesson. She suffers from -the characteristic malady of the race, the divorce -between intelligence and will. -</p> - -<p> -She opposes the Anglo-Saxon invasion, being still -thoroughly Spanish, her deliverance being a matter -of yesterday, but American also by the mixture of -the two races, the conquerors and the vanquished, -by the usual Latin virtues and defects. The loss -of her independence would be a painful lesson to -the republics of Central America, and to Mexico -even, where anarchy is paving the way for servitude. -The United States offer peace at the cost of liberty. -The alternatives are independence or wealth, material -progress or tradition. The choice between dignity -and a future is a painful one. Only an abundant -immigration under benevolent tyrants strong enough -to enforce a lasting peace, only a new orientation -of the national life, setting business and industry and -rural life before politics, could save the country from -the painful fate which seems to be hers. -</p> - -<p> -A fresh intervention, followed doubtless by annexation, -would demonstrate the racial incapacity for -self-government—a mournful experience. The -successive rule of Anglo-Saxons and Creoles would -render obvious the superiority of the former in the -matter of administration, economics, and politics. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0604fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0604fn1text">1</a>] See <i>Como acabó la dominación, de España en America</i>, -E. Piñeyro, Paris. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0604fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0604fn2text">2</a>] Enrique Collazo, <i>Cuba intervenida</i>, Havana, 1910, p. 93. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0604fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0604fn3text">3</a>] <i>Informe del Gobernador Charles E. Magoon</i>, Havana, 1909, -pp. 26, 39. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0604fn4"></a> -[<a href="#chap0604fn4text">4</a>] Cited in <i>Cuban Pacification</i>, Washington, 1907, p. 506. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0605"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P323"></a>323}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER V -<br /><br /> -THE JAPANESE PERIL -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The ambitions of the Mikado—The <i>Shin Nippon</i> in Western -America—Pacific invasion—Japanese and Americans. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Facing the United States in the mysterious Orient -is an extensive empire which is sending its legions -of pacific invaders into the New World. Anticipating -the Japanese victories, the German Emperor warned -a somnolent Europe of the terrible Yellow Peril; -the peril of hordes like those of Genghis Khan, -which would destroy the treasures of Western -civilisation. This danger, after the defeat of Russia -and the formation of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, -has been felt in America from Vancouver and -California down to Chili. -</p> - -<p> -To dominate the Pacific is the ambition both of -the North American Republic and the Asiatic -Monarchy. -</p> - -<p> -Before ruling America the Japanese, exposed to -the hostility of the Californians, will fight in the -North the great battle which will decide their fate. -The Monroe doctrine, which liberated Latin America -from the tutelage of the Holy Alliance, is perhaps -destined to protect it also against the menace of the -East. The Anglo-Saxons will not tolerate the -foundation of Japanese colonies on the southern coasts -of America, and to prevent them they are overcoming -the obstacle of the Isthmus: are digging a canal, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P324"></a>324}</span> -fortifying it, and increasing their navy. The United -States understand that their future will baffle Japan, -and by the acquisition of the Philippines they have -become an Asiatic power. They defend the integrity -of China, negotiate peace between Russia and Japan, -demand the neutrality of the Manchurian railway, -and claim a financial share in the Chinese loans and -undertakings of material civilisation. The policy of -Mr. Taft tends to ensure the American control of -the Chinese finances. -</p> - -<p> -The industry of North America needs outlets in -Asia, because South America is still a commercial -fief of Europe. On the other hand, the Japanese -population is increasing at such an excessive rate -that emigration is a necessary phenomenon for that -country; a people of mariners hemmed in by the -ocean naturally looks for fruitful adventures by sea. -Moreover, the State stimulates emigration; socialism -is causing it anxiety, and the dense population of -proletariats is producing implacable caste antagonisms. -Anarchists, brilliant propagandists of European -doctrines, are spreading their convictions among -the multitude which vegetates upon a poverty-stricken -soil. Industrialism, and the general transformation -of the nation, renders the protest of the disinherited -still more bitter. -</p> - -<p> -This current of emigration is neither chaotic nor -fruitless. Even more than the German the Japanese -is an emissary of imperialistic design. He does -not become absorbed into the nation in which he -lives; he does not become naturalised under the -protection of hospitable laws; he preserves his -worship of the Mikado, his national traditions, and -his noble devotion to the dead. -</p> - -<p> -Japan aspires to political domination and economic -hegemony in Korea and Northern China. The -Japanese have annexed Korea, and flying the Imperial -standard upon this peninsula they have become a -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P325"></a>325}</span> -continental power. They have received from ancient -China lessons in wisdom, artists and philosophers, -and to-day the initiate seeks to rule the initiator. -Japan is transforming China and teaching her the -methods of the West; the philosophy of Heidelberg, -the arts of Paris. In Manchuria, despite the ambitions -of the United States, she pretends to supremacy -for her industries and her banks. -</p> - -<p> -"Asia for the Asiatics" is the Japanese cry, as -"America for the Americans" is that of the people -of the States. -</p> - -<p> -Neither of these peoples respects the autonomy of -foreign nations. The United States are conquering -Asia economically, and the Japanese, the defenders -of Oriental integrity, are slowly invading the Far -West of America. The Philippines for the United -States and Hawaii for Japan are the advance posts -of commercial expansion on the one hand and -imperialism on the other. -</p> - -<p> -We are then face to face with a struggle of races, -a clash of irreconcilable interests. In the proud -northern democracy we note an uneasiness which -reveals itself by the jealous exclusion of the Japanese -from the life of the West, and by immovable racial -prejudices. The American General Homer Lee, in a -pessimistic book, <i>The Valor of Ignorance</i>, states that -a heterogeneous nation in which foreigners constitute -half the population can never conquer Japan. He -foresees that the island empire, having eliminated -its two rivals, Russia and China, by successive wars, -will vanquish the United States and occupy vast -territories in the American North-West. Only alliance -with England, "to-day allied with the destinies -of Japan," could save the Republic from subjection -to her Oriental rivals. -</p> - -<p> -Such prophecies, however, do not assume a general -character. While waiting for the future war the -struggle for the Pacific between the two powers -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P326"></a>326}</span> -concerned remains acute. The Japanese emigrants halt -at Hawaii, assimilate American methods, and resume -their exodus toward the Californian Eldorado. In -the islands they are electors; they prevail by force -of numbers; they change their professions or -industries with remarkable adaptability, and then -return to Japan, or remain, and retain their national -feeling inviolate. In California they follow humble -callings; they are secretly preparing themselves for -conquest. Numberless legions thus arrive from the -Orient; they are proud, adventurous, speculative; -they aspire to economic supremacy. -</p> - -<p> -In California, that country of gold and adventure, -the problem of Japanese immigration is becoming -more complex. M. Louis Aubert explains that in -this State the Japanese constitute a necessary defence -against the tyranny of the trades unions.[<a id="chap0605fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0605fn1">1</a>] They -accept an absurd wage and furnish the financial -oligarchy with useful arms and sober stomachs. -When the associations of working men demand -increased salaries and threaten the greedy plutocrats -with strikes or socialistic demands, the Japanese -passively submit to the iron law of capitalism. If -the interests of the race demand their expulsion -from California, the interests of the capitalist class -demand their retention. The instinct of the -democracy which supports the civilising mission of the -white man, "the white man's burden," is stronger -than its utilitarian egoism. The immigrant is accused -of immodesty or servility. The energy, frugality, -self-respect, triumphant patience, and hostile isolation -of the Japanese in Hawaii and California cause the -Americans much uneasiness. -</p> - -<p> -Repulsed in the north, the conquering Japanese -take refuge on the long coast-line of South America. -They do not renounce California and its admirable -soil, but they prefer to forget the disdain of the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P327"></a>327}</span> -North, to compromise with that haughty democracy, -and prepare in silence for the future conflict. -</p> - -<p> -They are, as a race, transformed; they have -forsaken their own history in the midst of the -millennial and ecstatic Orient, and this renovation -has resulted in an intense ambition of expansion. -The Japan which apes Europe does not overlook -the teachings of Anglo-Saxon imperialism. Its -statesmen, disciples of Disraeli and Chamberlain, wish -to found an immense empire under the tutelage of -the Asiatic England, insular and proud as the United -Kingdom itself. Count Okuma stated that South -America was comprised in the sphere of influence to -which the Japanese Empire may legitimately pretend. -Is not this the very language of the conquerors of -Europe, for whom such "spheres of influence" pave -the way for protectorates, tutelage, or annexation? -"Western America," write the Japanese journals, "is -a favourable ground for Japanese emigration. -Persevering emigrants might there build up a new -Japan, <i>Shin Nippon</i>." It is the identical object of -the Germans in Southern Brazil; the creation of -a Transatlantic <i>Deutschtum</i>. -</p> - -<p> -The Japanese emigrate to Canada, there to -establish a base for the invasion of the United States; -they do the same in Mexico, and settle even in Chili; -but Peru is the favourite soil of these imperialistic -adventurers. To a statesman here is a <i>Shin Nippon</i> -whose future is assured, a new Hawaii. Its climate -resembles that of Japan. "In Peru, as in the greater -part of South America, the government is weak, -and if energy be displayed it cannot refuse to accept -Japanese immigrants," writes a journal of Tokio. -"In this hospitable country the Japanese could -receive education in the public schools, acquire -lands, and exploit mines." It is necessary, says -an Osaka news-sheet, that these immigrants should -not return to Japan after amassing a fortune; -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P328"></a>328}</span> -they must remain in Peru and there create a -<i>Shin Nippon</i>.[<a id="chap0605fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0605fn2">2</a>] The Japanese immigrants are -reminded that already there are 60,000 Chinese -in the sugar plantations of Peru, and that this -republic is one of the richest on the Pacific coast. A -minute explanation is given of the agricultural -products which can be raised in Mexico, Chili, and -Peru, and what are the privileges granted to -immigrants in these countries; but these comprehensive -statements do not trouble American statesmen. The -very date of the first Japanese exodus toward the -Eldorado of the <i>conquistadors</i> has become the classic -anniversary of the commencement of a new era; -"the thirty-second of the Meijie," of the regeneration -of the Empire. According to recent statistics -6,000 Japanese are at work in Peru, in the plantations -of sugar-cane, the rubber-forests, or the cotton-fields; -following the tracks of the Chinese, they -fill the lesser callings and defeat the mulattos and -half-breeds in the economic struggle. New fleets -of steamers carry these persistent legions under the -Imperial flag. The State protects the navigation -companies which run between Japan and South -America, and although the commerce thus favoured -is more profitable to Peru and Chili than to Japan, -the far-sighted Mikado encourages relations which -are not particularly favourable to-day, but which -permit of the development of Japanese influence all -along the Pacific coast, and the creation of centres -of Japanese population and influence in Mexico, Peru, -and Chili.[<a id="chap0605fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0605fn3">3</a>] The Japanese vessels discharge their -human freight at Callao and Valparaiso. The soil, -which lacks Chinese serfs, is thus fertilised by -Japanese immigrants, and the agricultural oligarchy -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P329"></a>329}</span> -of Chili and Peru is satisfied. Brazil itself attracts -these emigrants, replacing the fertile Italian invasion -by these sober workers of a hostile race, and is -preparing the way for the establishment on Brazilian -soil of two groups of identical tendencies, but -inimical: one Japanese, the other German. -</p> - -<p> -Japanese spies have been captured in Ecuador and -Mexico. At the centennial fêtes of Mexico and -the Argentine in 1910 a Japanese cruiser and an -ambassador of the Mikado brought fraternal messages -from the Orient. Uneasy on account of the North -American peril, certain writers of the Latin American -democracies entertain a certain amount of confidence -in the sympathies of Japan; perhaps they even count -upon an alliance with the Empire of the Rising -Sun. But we cannot see, with the brilliant Argentine -writer Manuel Ugarte, that Latin diplomacy must -henceforth count upon Japan, because the hostility -between that nation and the United States might be -successfully exploited at the proper moment. In the -commercial battles for the domination of the Pacific -Japan does not support the autonomy of Latin -America; her statesmen and publicists consider that -Peru, Chili, and Mexico are spheres of Japanese -expansion. We have cited conclusive opinions on -this subject, and they contradict the optimism of -the Argentine sociologist. Apart from the emigrants -and the companies which encourage them the projects -and designs of Count Okuma, leader of the Japanese -imperialists, are manifested in the nationalist Press, -which sometimes betrays more than it intends. -To-day, in the face of the unanimous opinion of these -journals, we cannot deny that Japan has ambitious -designs upon America. The future war will be born -of the clash of two doctrines, of two imperialisms, -of the ideal of Okuma and the Monroe doctrine. -Victorious, the Japanese would invade Western -America and convert the Pacific into a vast closed -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P330"></a>330}</span> -sea, closed to foreign ambitions, <i>mare nostrum</i>, -peopled by Japanese colonies.[<a id="chap0605fn4text"></a><a href="#chap0605fn4">4</a>] -</p> - -<p> -The Japanese hegemony would not be a mere -change of tutelage for the nations of America. In -spite of essential differences the Latins oversea have -certain common ties with the people of the States: -a long-established religion, Christianity, and a -coherent, European, occidental civilisation. Perhaps -there is some obscure fraternity between the Japanese -and the American Indians, between the yellow -men of Nippon and the copper-coloured Quechuas, -a disciplined and sober people. But the ruling race, -the dominant type of Spanish origin, which imposes -the civilisation of the white man upon America, is -hostile to the entire invading East. -</p> - -<p> -The geography of the Oriental Empire in no sense -recalls that of America; there are neither wide -plains, nor mighty rivers, nor fertile and luxurious -forests. Narrow horizons, gentle hills, minute -islands, closed seas, and the strange flora of the -harmonious insular landscape: lotuses, cryptomera, -bamboos, chrysanthemums, dwarf trees. Beliefs, -manners, and customs all differ radically from the -American. "The Europeans," writes Lafcadio -Hearn, "build with a view to duration, the Japanese -with a view to instability." A keen sentiment -of all that is fugitive in life, of the anguish caused -by the incessant flux and mobility of things, causes -men to love ephemeral apparitions. Buddhism speaks -of the fluidity of life. Japanese art strives to fix -passing impressions; the dew, the pale light of the -moon, the fleeting tints of twilight, the provisional -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P331"></a>331}</span> -temples, the small houses of wood, the rice-paper -<i>shoji</i>, on which the very shadows of those within -are vague and momentary. There is nothing -persevering in Japanese life; the inhabitant is a nomad -and nature is variable. Impassive Buddhas, seated -on their blue lotus flowers, contemplate the -irresistible current of appearances. Mobility, and a -religious sense of becoming: these would be elements -of dissolution in a divided America. -</p> - -<p> -Powerful and traditional, the Japanese civilisation -would weigh too heavily upon the Latin democracies, -mixed as they are. Bushido, the cult of honour and -fidelity to one's ancestors, is the basis of an intense -nationalism; the contempt for death, the pride of -an insular people, the subjection of the individual to -the family and the native land, and the asceticism of -the <i>samurai</i>, constitute so formidable a superiority -that in the conflict between half-breed America and -stoic Japan the former would lose both its autonomy -and its traditions. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0605fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0605fn1text">1</a>] Louis Aubert, <i>Americains et Japonais</i>, Paris, 1908, -pp. 151 <i>et seq</i>. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0605fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0605fn2text">2</a>] M. Aubert cites these and other extracts. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0605fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0605fn3text">3</a>] The Peruvian imports into Japan were £101,000 in 1909; the -Japanese imports into Peru only £4,400. There is a commercial -treaty between Chili and Japan. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0605fn4"></a> -[<a href="#chap0605fn4text">4</a>] Perhaps the emigration of Orientals towards the two Americas -will be arrested, for there is a Chinese Far West which is slowly -becoming peopled. Japan aspires to assure herself of the domination -of Manchuria, and is sending colonists to Korea, the annexed -peninsula. The excess of the population of China and Japan tends -naturally to occupy territories in which everything is -favourable—climate, religion, and race. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0701"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P333"></a>333}</span> -</p> - -<h2> -BOOK VII -</h2> - -<p class="t3b"> -<i>PROBLEMS</i> -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -Serious problems arise from a consideration of the -Latin democracies, which are in the full tide of -development. They are divided, in spite of -common traditions, and they comprise races whose -marriage has not been precisely happy. In spite -of the resources of the soil, and its fabulous wealth, -these States live by loans. Their political life is -not organised; the parties obey leaders who bring -to the struggle for power neither an ideal nor a -programme of concrete reforms. The population -of these States is so small that America may be -called a desert. -</p> - -<p class="bookintro"> -We will consider all these problems minutely: -problems of unity, of race, of population, of -financial conditions, and of politics. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P335"></a>335}</span> -</p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER I -<br /><br /> -THE PROBLEM OF UNITY -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The foundations of unity: religion, language, and similarity of -development—Neither Europe, nor Asia, nor Africa presents -this moral unity in the same degree as Latin America—The -future groupings of the peoples: Central America, the -Confederation of the Antilles, Greater Colombia, the Confederation -of the Pacific, and the Confederation of La Plata—Political and -economical aspects of these unions—The last attempts at -federation in Central America—The Bolivian Congress—The -A.B.C.—the union of the Argentine, Brazil, and Chili. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -A professor of the American university of Harvard, -Mr. Coolidge, writes that if there is one thing that -proves the backwardness of the political spirit of -the Latin Americans, it is precisely the existence of so -many hostile democracies on a continent which is in -so many respects uniform. With so many points in -common, with the same language, the same civilisation, -the same essential interests, they persist in -maintaining the political subdivisions due to the mere -accidents of their history.[<a id="chap0701fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0701fn1">1</a>] And he advises in all -sincerity that these inimical nations should associate -themselves in powerful groups, a means of defence -which no nation could oppose, neither the United -States nor Europe. If, for example, Bolivia, -Uruguay, and Paraguay were to unite with the -Argentine Republic; if the old United States of Colombia -were re-established, and if, as formerly, Venezuela -and Ecuador, with perhaps Peru, were to form a -confederation; if the republics of Central America were -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P336"></a>336}</span> -at last to succeed in forming a durable confederation, -and were perhaps to join Mexico—then Latin America -would consist only of a few great States, each of -which would be sufficiently important to assume by -right an enviable position in the modern world, and -to fear no aggression on the part of any foreign -power. -</p> - -<p> -The Latin Republics pay no attention to this wise -counsel; we observe among them a tendency toward -further disagreement, toward an atomic disintegration. -Originally a different and a wider movement, -in the sense of the close union of similar nationalities, -did manifest itself. The contrary principle prevails -to-day, and it results in the separation of complementary -provinces and the conflict of sister nations. -</p> - -<p> -During a century of isolated political development, -and under the influence of territory and climate, -divergent characteristics have manifested themselves -in the nations of America. Mexico is without the -tropical eloquence we find in Colombia; the Chilian -inflexibility contrasts with the rich imagination of the -Brazilians; the Argentines have become a -commercial people; Chili is a bellicose republic; -Bolivia has an astute policy, the work of a slow and -practical people, which has given it a new strength; -Peru persists in its dreams of generous idealism; -Central America remains rent by an anarchy which -seems incurable; Venezuela is still inspired by an -empty "lyricism." Some of these republics are -practical peoples governed by active plutocracies; -others are given to dreaming and are led by -presidents suffering from neurosis. In the Tropics we -find civil war and idleness; on the cold table-lands, -in the temperate plains, and in the maritime cities, -wealth and peace. -</p> - -<p> -But such divergences do not form an essential -separation; they cannot destroy the age-long work -of laws, religion, institutions, tradition, and language. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P337"></a>337}</span> -Unity possesses indestructible foundations, as old and -as deep-rooted as the race itself. -</p> - -<p> -From Mexico to Chili the religion is the same; -the intolerance of alien cults is the same; so are the -clericalism, the anti-clericalism, the fanaticism, and -the superficial free thought; the influence of the -clergy in the State, upon women, and the schools; -the lack of true religious feeling under the -appearance of general belief. -</p> - -<p> -To this first very important factor of unity we -must add the powerful and permanent influence of -the Spanish language, whose future is bound up with -the future of the Latin Transatlantic peoples. -Sonorous and arrogant, this language expresses, better -than any other, the vices and the grandeur of the -American mind; its rhetoric and its heroism, its -continuity of spirit from the feats of the Cid to the -Republican revolutions. The Spanish tongue is an -intimate bond of union between the destinies of the -metropolis and those of its ancient colonies, and it -separates the two Americas, one being the expression -of the Latin and the other of the Anglo-Saxon genius. -</p> - -<p> -The language is always to a certain extent -transformed in these democracies; provincialisms and -Americanisms abound; the popular tongue differs -from the autocratic Castilian. Don Rufino Cuervo -predicts that Spanish will undergo essential alterations -in America, as was the case with Latin at the time of -the Roman decadence. An Argentine writer, Señor -Ernesto Quesada, believes that a national language -is in process of formation on the banks of the Plata, -and that the barbarisms of the popular speech are -forecasts of a new tongue. In Chili an exalted -patriot has upheld the originality of the Chilian race -and language in an anonymous book, claiming that -they derive from the Gothic. Thus is the effect of -the national spirit exaggerated. Among the -Ibero-American republics there is a profound and general -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P338"></a>338}</span> -resemblance in the pronunciation and the syntax of -the language; the same linguistic defects even are -to be found in all. The Spanish of the Peninsula -loses its majesty overseas; it is no longer the -language, lordly in its beauty, solemn in its -ornaments, of Granada, of Mariana, of Perez de Guzman. -Familiar, declamatory, pronounced with a caressing -accent, the Castilian of America is uniform from -North to South. -</p> - -<p> -More effectual than religion and language the -identity of race explains the similarity of the -American peoples, and constitutes a promise of lasting -unity. The native race, the Spanish race, and the -negro race are everywhere mingled, in similar -proportions, from the frontier of the United States to -the southern limits of the continent. On the Atlantic -seaboard European immigration, an influx of -Russians, Italians, and Germans, has given the -supremacy to the white race, but this influence is -limited to small belts of land, when we consider -the vast area of the continent. -</p> - -<p> -A single half-caste race, with here the negro and -there the Indian predominant over the conquering -Spaniard, obtains from the Atlantic to the Pacific. -There is a greater resemblance between Peruvians and -Argentines, Colombians and Chilians, than between the -inhabitants of two distant provinces of France, such -as Provence and Flanders, Brittany and Burgundy, or -between the Italian of the north, positive and virile, -and the lazy and sensual Neapolitan, or between the -North American of the Far West and the native of -New England. The slight provincial differences -enable us the better to understand the unity of the -continent. -</p> - -<p> -This identity explains the monotonous history of -America. A succession of military periods and industrial -periods, of revolts and dictatorships; perpetual -promises of political restoration; the tyranny of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P339"></a>339}</span> -ignorant adventurers, and complicated and delusive -legislation. -</p> - -<p> -It is in the great crises of its history that the -essential unity of the race is revealed. The Wars of -Independence were a unanimous movement, an -expression of profound solidarity. In 1865, after -half a century of isolation, the democracies of the -Pacific once more united to oppose Spain's attempt -at reconquest. Soldiers of different nations, who had -already fought in bygone battles, but against each -other, now fought side by side for the common liberty. -The same unity of inspiration has brought the nations -together in opposition to many projects of conquest: -the expedition of Flores against Ecuador, of France -against Mexico, and the Anglo-French alliance -against Rosas. At the second Hague Congress in -1907 Latin America revealed to the Western world -the importance of her wealth and the valour of her -men, and supported her ideal of arbitration; to the -Monroe doctrine she opposed the doctrine of Drago, -and, without preliminary understanding, asserted her -unity. -</p> - -<p> -No other continent offers so many reasons for -union, and herein lies the chief originality of Latin -America. -</p> - -<p> -In Europe states and races are in conflict, and the -unstable equilibrium is maintained only by means of -alliances. Religions, political systems, traditions, and -languages differ. History is merely a succession of -turbulent hegemonies: of Spain, England, France, -and Germany. We find artificial nations, like -Austria; unions of democratic and theocratic peoples, -like the Franco-Russian Alliance; rival empires of -the same race, like England and Germany; political -alliances of alien races, like Germany and Italy; and -the dispersion of peoples painfully seeking to recover -their lost unity, like the Poles, the Irish, and the -Slavs. The federation of Europe is a Utopian dream. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P340"></a>340}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Africa is not yet autonomous; it is a vast group -of enslaved peoples of primitive races, colonised by -the great European powers. There the Anglo-Saxon -genius is seeking to establish a political union between -English and Dutch, and one day, perhaps, the empire -dreamed of by Cecil Rhodes will stretch from Cairo -to the Cape. But the unity of Africa is impossible; -for the colonists come to the Dark Continent as -conquerors, as the representatives of hostile interests; -they can but quarrel over Morocco, Tripoli, and the -Congo. Oceania possesses only a partial unity in -the Australian commonwealth, the work of England. -In Asia it is still more impossible to guess whence -a future unity might arise. Mussulmans and -Buddhists share India; Japan has won only an -ephemeral superiority; China retains all her -irreducible independence; in Manchuria and Korea -Russian and Asiatic interests are opposed; in -Turkestan, Persia, and Tibet the conflicts of race -and religion are enough to destroy any hope of union. -</p> - -<p> -In America and in America only the political -problem is relatively simple. Unity is there at once a -tradition and a present necessity, yet in spite of this -fact the disunion of the Latin democracies persists. -</p> - -<p> -Forty years ago Alberdi thought it necessary, and -believed it possible, to redraw the map of America. -</p> - -<p> -To-day the Latin nations overseas are less plastic; -the frontiers seem too definitely established, and -prejudices too deeply rooted to allow of such a -recombination; but the formation of groups of nations -is no less urgent. If the unity of the continent by -means of a vast federation in the Anglo-Saxon -manner seems impossible, it is none the less necessary -to group the Latin-American nations in a durable -fashion, according to their affinities. While respecting -the inevitable geographical inequalities which give -certain peoples an evident superiority over others, -and the no less inevitable economic inequalities which -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P341"></a>341}</span> -create natural unions, it would still be possible to -found a stable assemblage of nations, a Continent. -</p> - -<p> -There is a spontaneous hierarchy in the Latin -New World; there are superior and inferior -democracies, maritime nations and inland states. -Paraguay will always be inferior to the Argentine -Republic; Uruguay to Brazil; Bolivia to Chili; -Ecuador to Peru; Guatemala to Mexico; as much -from the point of wealth as in population and -influence. The preservation of the autonomy of republics -which differ so greatly in the extent and situation -of their territories can only be removed by federative -grouping. To oppress and colonise these countries -is the desire of all imperialists, no matter whence -they come; but the peace of America demands -another solution; which is, not the synthesis which -some one powerful State might enforce, but the -co-operation of free organisms. By grouping -themselves about more advanced peoples the secondary -nations might succeed in preserving their threatened -autonomy. -</p> - -<p> -Central America, exhausted by anarchy, may aspire -to unity; these five small nations maintain a -precarious independence in the face of the United -States. Until 1842 Central America was only one -State, and subsequent attempts at unification proved -that this was not merely the artificial creation of its -politicians. When the Panama Canal has divided the -two Americas, and increased the power of the United -States, these nations, together with Mexico, might -form a true Spanish advance-guard in the North. -</p> - -<p> -Moreover, the free islands of the Caribbean Sea -might be united in a Confederation of the Antilles, -according to the noble dream of Hostos. Greater -Colombia might be reconstituted, with Ecuador, New -Granada, and Venezuela. Their greatest leaders have -desired their union, as a preventive of indefinite and -fractional division and internal discord. On the basis -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P342"></a>342}</span> -of common traditions, and for important geographical -reasons, these three nations might form an imposing -Confederacy. Once the Canal is open, this group of -peoples, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, -on the northern extremity of the continent, would -form a massive Latin rampart, a country capable of -absorbing European emigration and of opposing to -Anglo-Saxon invasion the resistance of a vast -populated and united territory. -</p> - -<p> -Bolivia, the inland republic, deprived of her -coast-line by Chili, has already been twice united to Peru; -in 1837, under the authority of Santa-Cruz, and in -1879, to oppose the supremacy of Chili on the -Pacific. What should henceforth separate it from -a people to which it is united by so many historical -and economic ties, and a similitude of territory and -race from Cuzco to Oruro? Chili and Peru will -be either two perpetual enemies, or two peoples drawn -together by a useful understanding. Their -geographical proximity, their mutually complementary -products—the tropical fruits of Peru and the products -of the temperate zones of Chili—might contribute to -bring them together. Have we not here an actual -economic harmony? In the moral domain the very -causes which have engendered hatred between Chili -and Peru, from the time of Portales to that of Pinto, -might equally prove to be the elements of future -friendship. Peru, impoverished by the Chilian -conquest, and deprived of her deposits of nitre, would -no longer be the victim of the Chilian greed of gold, -nor the hatred of a poor colony for the elegant -vice-kingdom. Chili is wealthier than Peru, and her -people have more energy and more will-power, -although they may have less imagination, less nobility -of character, and less eloquence. The Peruvian -vivacity and grace may be contrasted with the prosaic -deliberation of Chili; the anarchy of the one country -with the political stability of the other; the idealism -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P343"></a>343}</span> -of Peru with the common-sense of Chili. Physically -and morally these two countries complete one -another. The economic necessities of each might -form the permanent basis of a possible alliance. The -Confederation of the Pacific, formed by Peru, Bolivia, -and Chili, would be a safeguard against future wars -in America. Unhappily Chili professes and seeks -to enforce a superiority founded upon victory, just -as, when the German Empire was confederated, -victorious and warlike Prussia enforced her -superiority over artistic Bavaria. -</p> - -<p> -The Confederation of La Plata, the heir to the -traditions of the colonial era, might be formed of -Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Rosas did seek -to create this great federal organisation. During the -course of the century Uruguay has extended her -sympathies alternately to the Argentine and to Brazil, -and Paraguay, during a period of epic grandeur, -defended her isolation. The union of these republics -was prevented by national rivalities and the ambitions -of their <i>caudillos</i>, but it will surely be effected in the -future under the pressure of the power of Argentina. -It is true that Uruguay has only too definite an -originality in the matter of intellect, from the point of -view of liberalism and education, but the federation -of the future would not be the imposition of a harsh -hegemony of one nation over others, but rather the -co-operation of republics with equal rights which had -at last understood the poverty of their isolated -condition. Paraguay, remote and concealed, ruled -sometimes by a Jesuitical and now by a civil dictatorship, -has need of a place in such a vast confederation of -cultivated peoples. -</p> - -<p> -These groups of nations will thus form a new -America, organic and powerful. Brazil, with her -immense territory and dense population; the -Confederation of La Plata; the Confederation of the -Pacific; Greater Colombia: these will finally -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P344"></a>344}</span> -establish the continental equilibrium so anxiously desired. -In the North, Mexico and Central America and the -Confederation of the Antilles would form three Latin -States to balance the enveloping movement of the -Anglo-Saxons. Instead of twenty divided republics -we should thus have seven powerful nations. We -should have not the vague Union of which all the -Utopian professors since Bolivar have spoken, but a -definite grouping and confederation of peoples united -by real economic, geographical, and political ties. -</p> - -<p> -To realise these fusions there are both economic -and political methods. Hasty conventions would be -powerless to uproot the hatreds and the narrow -conceptions of patriotism peculiar to the American -peoples. The organisation of the continent should be -the work of thinkers, statesmen, and captains of -industry, a work fortified by time and history. To -the tradition of discord we must oppose another, the -tradition of union. -</p> - -<p> -A series of partial commercial treaties, navigation -treaties, railway systems, customs unions, and -international congresses (like those recently held at -Montevideo and Santiago) may all be indicated as -means of realising unity. The railways above all -will create a new continent; for isolation and lack -of population are the enemies of American federation. -</p> - -<p> -To-day these peoples do not know one another. -Paris is their intellectual capital, where their poets, -thinkers, and statesmen meet. In America everything -makes for separation: forests, plains, and -mountains. What does Venezuela know of Chili, -Peru of Mexico, Colombia of the Argentine? Even -in the case of neighbouring nations the political -leaders do not know one another. The psychology -of neighbouring peoples is a mystery; whence -traditional errors and disastrous wars. American -journalism is ignorant of nothing in European life—the -sessions of the Duma, the ministerial crises of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P345"></a>345}</span> -Roumania, the nobility of the Gotha Almanac, the -scandals of Berlin; but of the public life of the -American nations it publishes only the vaguest and -most erroneous news. By stimulating the love of -travel and building railroads these peoples would -escape from an isolation so perilous. "Every line -of railroad which crosses a frontier," said Gladstone, -"prepares the way for universal confederation." The -Yankees have understood this, which is why they are -preparing to build a great Pan-American railway to -unite the two Americas under their financial sceptre. -</p> - -<p> -The line which has recently united the two -capitals of the South—Santiago and Buenos-Ayres—has -contributed to the formation of a solid -understanding between Chili and the Argentine. That -which will unite Lima and Buenos-Ayres in the near -future will bring the culture of the Argentine to -the Bolivian table-lands, as far as Cuzco, the centre -of Inca tradition; it will draw together the seaboard -populations of the two oceans, the Atlantic and the -Pacific, and will prove a powerful agent of civilisation -and unity. The great rivers of the Amazonian basin -from the Putumayo to the Beni, the affluents of the -Rio de la Plata, the Magdalena and the Orinoco, -united by new railroads, will also contribute to the -continental unity by multiplying international -relations. One may well repeat the celebrated phrase, -that to govern is to lay rails. Railways vanquish -barbarism; they attract the stranger, people the -desert, civilise the native. Political organisation and -internal peace correspond with the development of -the means of communication. With the appearance -of the rails the <i>caudillos</i> lose their influence, and a -double transformation is effected; in the interior by -the civilising action of commingled interests, and at -the exterior by the new relations which the multiplication -of railways involves. -</p> - -<p> -Customs unions in Germany created the Imperial -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P346"></a>346}</span> -unity; Mr. Chamberlain thinks that a <i>Zollverein</i> -would increase the power of the British Empire. -The economic grouping of nations prepares the way -for future confederations. The frequent congresses -which unify law and jurisprudence, and bring -together politicians, men of letters and scientists, all -tend to the same result. To increase the number of -these assemblies, to hold them in different capitals -of the continent, and to replace the Pan-American -Congresses, whose plans are somewhat indefinite, by -racial Latin-American Congresses, would be equally -to the profit of the economic and intellectual unity of -the continent, and the harmony of its politics and its -laws. An undivided, uniform American law,[<a id="chap0701fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0701fn2">2</a>] a single -monetary system, a similar policy in respect of -protectionism and free trade, the unification of methods -of teaching, and the equivalence of academic -diplomas and university degrees, are questions that -might be discussed at these general assemblies. Each -nation would have ministers in the other republics, -who would be at once intellectual emissaries and -propagandists, while to-day American peoples who -send ministers to Austria or to Switzerland have no -accredited representatives in the capitals of adjacent -states. The national ambitions which satisfy our -politicians to-day would be replaced by a more ample -and original design, embracing the future of an -entire continent, as was the case a century ago. -</p> - -<p> -In short, we should neglect no form of -co-operation—conventions, travel, diplomatic labours, -periodical congresses, commercial treaties, and partial -groups of nations. Nothing but a disastrous weakness -can perpetuate the present division of the Latin -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P347"></a>347}</span> -peoples in the face of the unity of the United States. -</p> - -<p> -The nations of the South are not unaware of this -necessity, and after a century of independence they -are seeking to reconstitute the ancient unions. -Central America, disturbed by periodic wars, is -endeavouring to create a Confederation. In 1895 a -treaty between Honduras, Nicaragua, and Salvador -formed the Republic of Central America; only Costa -Rica and Guatemala held aloof from this union. In -1902 all these nations, with the exception of -Guatemala, accepted a convention of arbitration. In -1905 the presidents of the five republics met at -Corinth in order to honour the work of Morazan and -Rufino Barrios; spontaneously, or at the instance -of the United States and Mexico, they signed various -treaties intended to realise the unity of the sister -nations. A Central American Pedagogic Institute -was created, and a "Bureau of the Five Republics," -with the same object of unification. In 1907, after -nine different conflicts in the interval, a conference -of these same nations was assembled at Washington. -On this occasion a tribunal of arbitration for Central -America was installed, and the neutrality of Honduras -was recognised. This tribunal, which sits at Cartago, -in Costa-Rica, is to judge the conflicts between states -and the diplomatic claims of the governments and of -individuals. Moreover, the Republics of Central -America have agreed to a declaration which provides -that they will recognise no government which -has been enforced by a revolution or a <i>coup d'État</i>, -and that they will not intervene in the political -movements of neighbouring countries. -</p> - -<p> -The Court of Arbitration thus established had -already, in 1909, settled differences between Salvador -and Honduras, and between Guatemala and -Nicaragua, by rejecting the pretentions of Honduras -in the one case and of Nicaragua in the other.[<a id="chap0701fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0701fn3">3</a>] In -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P348"></a>348}</span> -short, the United States and Mexico are leading these -peoples, who used to be in a condition of perpetual -discord, towards the unity necessary to their progress. -</p> - -<p> -A Congress met recently (1911) at Caracas, which -was attended by the representatives of the states -liberated by Bolivar—Venezuela, New Granada, -Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. This was a truly -Bolivian assembly in honour of the national hero. -The object of this Congress was to reconstitute -Greater Colombia with the three Republics which -formerly made part of it—Venezuela, New Granada, -and Ecuador; this would be a return, after the lapse -of a century, to the harmonious union of the sister -peoples, which would truly give them a common -future. -</p> - -<p> -The formation of a great Bolivian State, after a -period of isolation lasting more than a century, is -certainly the dream of generous statesmen. It is -not easy to conceive of the political union of peoples -as far removed as those of Venezuela and Bolivia, -but this assembly might well result in a natural union -of the peoples of the North; a new Greater -Colombia, whose provinces would stretch from the -Atlantic to the Pacific. -</p> - -<p> -In the south the A.B.C., the alliance of the -Argentine, Brazil, and Chili, is the question incessantly -discussed in the sensational press, and in the -chancelleries, which love to surround themselves with an -atmosphere of mystery. These three nations, wealthy, -military powers, situated in distinct zones, are seeking -confederation; their ambition is to exercise in -America a tutelage which they consider indispensable. -Already the understanding of May, 1902, had limited -the armaments of Chili and the Argentine, and had -put an end to a long conflict. The rivality between -the Argentine and Brazil; the old friendship between -that country and Chili, which afterwards changed to -a jealous alienation; the rivalry between the Argentine -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P349"></a>349}</span> -and Chili in the matter of wealth and power; -discord, threats of war, uneasy friendships; all this -is insufficient to restrain the military ambition of -the three great nations. The statesmen of Buenos-Ayres, -Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago are labouring -to effect the realisation of an alliance between the -three most highly civilised and organised and most -advanced nations of the continent. Once this union -is accomplished, to the indisputable influence of the -United States will be added the moderative influence -of the three great States of the South, and the -equilibrium between Latins and Anglo-Saxons would be -its immediate result. -</p> - -<p> -There are writers in America who defend the -chauvinistic autonomy of small countries as against -the natural supremacy of such combinations of States. -It is, however, certain that these alliances do not -in any way threaten the countries which take part in -them; they respect their internal constitution, and -their historic organisation; they confine themselves -to a fusion of general and external interests, to -matters of commerce, and of peace and war. These -utilitarian partisans of the independence of each -separate nation cannot conceive of the grouping of -nations as in the Greater Colombia, the Confederation -of the Pacific, or the Southern Alliance, without the -existence of obvious commercial interests. It is -certainly true that the <i>Zollverein</i>, or permanent customs -agreement, was the basis of German unity. But there -are moral interests as powerful and as obvious as the -interests of commerce. Should not a common danger, -such as the Yankee peril in Panama and Central -America, impel nations toward federation and unity? -</p> - -<p> -Moreover, federation is not always the result of -purely commercial ties. Our century tends to -synthetical action. As modern nations were formed by -overcoming the old feudal anarchy, so metropolis -and colonies are uniting in our days to form -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P350"></a>350}</span> -formidable empires which merely commercial interests could -not explain. What economic tie served as the basis -of the South African Federation, a group of hostile -races retaining a memory of autonomy? Did not -North and South in the United States enter upon a -terrible war of interests, and, in spite of this utilitarian -antagonism, is not Lincoln, the founder of the Union, -as great to-day as Washington, the founder of -nationality? The enormous power of the North -American nation is the result of this unity. If the -patricians of the South had been victorious in the -War of Secession, if they had succeeded in annihilating -the Federal bond, then instead of the Republic -which overawes Europe and aspires to Americanise -the world there would be two powerless and inimical -States; in the South an oligarchic nation served by -slaves, and in the North a feeble assemblage of -Puritan provinces, while the Far West would be -incapable of resisting the Yellow Peril. -</p> - -<p> -But there are economic ties between the Latin -nations, which may assist the preparation of -respectable unions. Between Brazil and Chili, Peru and -Chili, Bolivia, Chili, and Peru, or the Argentine, -Paraguay, and Bolivia, there are actual currents of -commercial exchange, of agricultural products from -complementary zones, and therein a basis of union -may be found. -</p> - -<p> -Latin America cannot continue to live divided, -while her enemies are building up vast federations -and enormous empires. Whether in the name of race -or commercial interests, of common utility or true -independence, the American democracies must form -themselves into three or four powerful States. The -Latin New World is alone in resisting the universal -impulse toward the establishment of syndicates and -federations, trusts and trades unions, associations -and alliances—in short, of increasingly vast and -increasingly powerful organisations. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0701fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0701fn1text">1</a>] <i>The United States as a World-Power</i>. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0701fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0701fn2text">2</a>] See A. Alvarez, <i>Le Droit international americain</i> (Paris, 1910), in -which the reader will find an interesting list of problems respecting -frontiers, immigration, and means of communication, affecting -Latin America in particular, which have on several occasions -met with solutions which form the basis of a new law (pp. 271 -<i>et seq</i>.). -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0701fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0701fn3text">3</a>] Alvarez, <i>ibid.</i>, p. 189 et seq. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0702"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P351"></a>351}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER II -<br /> -THE PROBLEM OF RACE -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The gravity of the problem—The three races, European, Indian, -and Negro—Their characteristics—The mestizos and mulattos—The -conditions of miscegenation according to M. Gustave Le -Bon—Regression to the primitive type. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The racial question is a very serious problem in -American history. It explains the progress of certain -peoples and the decadence of others, and it is the -key to the incurable disorder which divides America. -Upon it depend a great number of secondary phenomena; -the public wealth, the industrial system, the -stability of governments, the solidity of patriotism. -It is therefore essential that the continent should have -a constant policy, based upon the study of the -problems which are raised by the facts of race, -just as there is an agrarian policy in Russia, a -protectionist policy in Germany, and a free-trade policy -in England. -</p> - -<p> -In the United States all the varieties of the -European type are intermingled: Scandinavians and -Italians, Irish and Germans; but in the Latin -republics there are peoples of strange lineage: -American Indians, negroes, Orientals, and Europeans -of different origin are creating the race of the future -in homes in which mixed blood is the rule. -</p> - -<p> -In the Argentine, where Spanish, Russian, and -Italian immigrants intermingle, the social formation -is extremely complicated. The aboriginal Indians -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P352"></a>352}</span> -have been united with African negroes, and with -Spanish and Portuguese Jews; then came Italians -and Basques, French and Anglo-Saxons; a multiple -invasion, with the Latin element prevailing. In -Brazil Germans and Africans marry Indians and -Portuguese. Among the Pacific peoples, above all -in Peru, a considerable Asiatic influx, Chinese and -Japanese, still further complicates the human mixture. -In Mexico and Bolivia the native element, the Indian, -prevails. The negroes form a very important portion -of the population of Cuba and San Domingo. Costa-Rica -is a democracy of whites; and in the Argentine, -as in Chili, all vestiges of the African type have -disappeared. In short, there are no pure races in -America. The aboriginal Indian himself was the -product of the admixture of ancient tribes and castes. -</p> - -<p> -In the course of time historic races may form -themselves; in the meantime an indefinable admixture -prevails. -</p> - -<p> -This complication of castes, this admixture of -divers bloods, has created many problems. For -example, is the formation of a national consciousness -possible with such disparate elements? Would such -heterogeneous democracies be able to resist the -invasion of superior races? Finally, is the South -American half-caste absolutely incapable of -organisation and culture? -</p> - -<p> -Facile generalisations will not suffice to solve these -questions. Here the experience of travellers and of -American history even is of greater value than the -verdicts of the anthropologists. In the first place -the half-breeds are not all hybrids, and it is not true -that the union of the Spaniard and the American has -always been sterile. Hence the absolute necessity -of understanding the proper character of each of the -races which have formed modern America. -</p> - -<p> -The Spaniards who arrived in the New World came -from different provinces; here alone is a prime cause -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P353"></a>353}</span> -of variety. Simultaneously with the languid -Andalusian and the austere Basque, the grave Catalonian -and the impetuous Estremaduran left Spain. Where -the descendants of the Basque prevail, as in Chili, -the political organism is more stable, if less brilliant, -than elsewhere, and a strong will-power shows itself -in work and success. The Castilians brought to -America their arrogance, and the fruitless gestures -of the hidalgo; where the Andalusians are in the -majority their agile fantasy, their gentle <i>non curanza</i>, -militates against all serious or continuous effort. The -descendants of the Portuguese are far more practical -than those of the Spaniards; they are also more -disciplined and more laborious. The psychological -characteristics of the Indian are just as various; the -descendant of the Quechuas does not resemble the -descendant of the Charruas, any more than the -temperament of the Araucanian resembles that of the -Aztec. In Chili, Uruguay, and the Argentine, there -were warlike populations whose union with the -conquerors has formed virile half-castes, an energetic -and laborious <i>plebs</i>. In Chili Araucanians and -Basques have intermingled; and is it not in this -fusion that we must seek the explanation of the -persistent character of the Chilian nation, and its -military spirit? The Aymara of Bolivia and the south-east -of Peru is hard and sanguinary; the Quechua of -the table-lands of the Andes is gentle and servile. It -is by no means a matter of indifference whether the -modern citizen of the Latin democracies is descended -from a Guarani, an Aztec, an Araucan, or a Chibcha; -he will, as the case may be, prove aggressive or -passive, a nomadic shepherd or a quiet tiller of the -common soil. -</p> - -<p> -The Indian of the present time, undermined by -alcohol and poverty, is free according to the law, -but a serf by virtue of the permanance of authoritative -manners. Petty tyrannies make him a slave; he -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P354"></a>354}</span> -works for the <i>cacique</i>, the baron of American -feudalism. The curé, the sub-prefect, and the judge, -all-powerful in these young democracies, exploit him -and despoil him of his possessions.[<a id="chap0702fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0702fn1">1</a>] The communities, -very like the Russian <i>mir</i>, are disappearing, and -the Indian is losing his traditional rights to the lands -of the collectivity. Without sufficient food, without -hygiene, a distracted and laborious beast, he decays -and perishes; to forget the misery of his daily lot -he drinks, becomes an alcoholic, and his numerous -progeny present the characteristics of degeneracy. -He lives in the mountains or table-lands, where a -glacial cold prevails and the solitude is eternal. -Nothing disturbs the monotony of these desolate -stretches; nothing breaks the inflexible line of the -limitless horizons; there the Indian grows as melancholy -and as desiccated as the desert that surrounds -him. The great occasions of his civil life—birth, -marriage, and death—are the subjects of a religious -exploitation. Servile and superstitious, he finally -loves the tyrannies that oppress him. He adores the -familiar gods of the Cerros, of the mountain. He is -at once a Christian and a fetish-worshipper; he sees -in mysterious nature demons and goblins, occult -powers which are favourable and hostile by turn. -</p> - -<p> -There are, nevertheless, regions where despotism -has developed in the Indian a sort of passive -resistance. There he is sober and vigorous, and by his -complete adaptation to the maternal soil he has -grown apathetic and a creature of routine. He hates -all that might destroy his age-long traditions: -schools, military training, and the authority that -despoils him. Conservative and melancholy, he lives -on the border of the Republic and its laws; his heart -grows hot against the tyranny from which he forever -suffers. Dissimulation, servility, and melancholy are -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P355"></a>355}</span> -his leading traits; rancour, hardness, and hypocrisy -are the forms of his defensive energy. He supports -his slavery upon this cold earth, but he sometimes -revolts against his exploiters; and at Huanta and -Ayoayo he fought against his oppressors with true -courage, sustained by hatred, as in the heroic times -of <i>Tupac-Amaru</i>.[<a id="chap0702fn2text"></a><a href="#chap0702fn2">2</a>] After this bloody epic he resumed -his monotonous existence under the heedless sky. -In his songs he curses his birth and his destiny. -In the evening he leaves the narrow valley where -in his slavery he is employed in agricultural labours, -to journey into the <i>cerros</i> and mourn the abandonment -of his household gods. A weird lamentation -passes over the darkening earth, and from summit to -summit the Cordillera re-echoes the sorrowful and -melodious plaint of the Indian as he curses conquest -and warfare. -</p> - -<p> -The negroes of Angola or the Congo have mingled -equally with the Spaniard and the Indian. The -African woman satisfied the ardour of the -conquerors; she has darkened the skin of the race. -</p> - -<p> -The negroes arrived as slaves; sold <i>a usanza de -feria</i> (as beasts of burden), they were primitive -creatures, impulsive and sensual. Idle and servile, -they have not contributed to the progress of the race. -In the dwelling-houses of the colonial period they -were domestics, acting as <i>pions</i> to their masters' -children; in the fields and the plantations of sugar-cane -they were slaves, branded by the lash of the overseer. -They form an illiterate population which exercises a -depressing influence on the American imagination -and character. They increase still further the -voluptuous intensity of the tropical temper, weaken it, and -infuse into the blood of the Creole elements of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P356"></a>356}</span> -idleness, recklessness, and servility which are becoming -permanent. -</p> - -<p> -The three races—Iberian, Indian, and African—united -by blood, form the population of South -America. In the United States union with the -aborigines is regarded by the colonist with repugnance; -in the South miscegenation is a great national -fact; it is universal. The Chilian oligarchy has -kept aloof from the Araucanians, but even in -that country unions between whites and Indians -abound. Mestizos are the descendants of whites and -Indians; mulattos the children of Spaniards and -negroes; <i>zambos</i> the sons of negroes and Indians. -Besides these there are a multitude of social -sub-divisions. On the Pacific coast Chinese and negroes -have interbred. From the Caucasian white, bronzed -by the tropics, to the pure negro, we find an infinite -variety in the cephalic index, in the colour of the -skin, and in the stature. -</p> - -<p> -It is always the Indian that prevails, and the Latin -democracies are mestizo or indigenous. The ruling -class has adopted the costume, the usages, and the -laws of Europe, but the population which forms the -national mass is Quechua, Aymara, or Aztec. In -Peru, in Bolivia, and in Ecuador the Indian of pure -race, not having as yet mingled his blood with that -of the Spanish conquerors, constitutes the ethnic base. -In the Sierra the people speak Quechua and Aymara; -there also the vanquished races preserve their -traditional communism. Of the total population of Peru -and Ecuador the white element only attains to the -feeble proportion of 6 per cent., while the Indian -element represents 70 per cent. of the population of -these countries, and 50 per cent. in Bolivia. In -Mexico the Indian is equally in the majority, and we -may say that there are four Indian nations on the -continent: Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. -</p> - -<p> -In countries where the pure native has not survived -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P357"></a>357}</span> -the mestizos abound; they form the population of -Colombia, Chili, Uruguay, and Paraguay; in this -latter country Guarani is spoken much more -frequently than Spanish. The true American of the -South is the mestizo, the descendant of Spaniards and -Indians; but this new race, which is almost the -rule from Mexico to Buenos-Ayres, is not always a -hybrid product. The warlike peoples, like those of -Paraguay and Chili, are descended from Spaniards, -Araucanians, and Guaranis. Energetic leaders have -been found among the mestizos: Paez in Venezuela, -Castilla in Peru, Diaz in Mexico, and Santa-Cruz in -Bolivia. An Argentine anthropologist, Señor Ayarragaray, -says that "the primary mestizo is inferior to -his European progenitors, but at the same time he -is often superior to his native ancestors." He is -haughty, virile, and ambitious if his ancestors were -Charruas, Guaranis, or Araucanians; even the -descendant of the peaceable Quechuas is superior to -the Indian. He learns Spanish, assimilates the -manners of a new and superior civilisation, and forms -the ruling caste at the bar and in politics. The -mestizo, the product of a first crossing, is not -otherwise a useful element of the political and economic -unity of America; he retains too much the defects -of the native; he is false and servile, and often -incapable of effort. It is only after fresh unions with -Europeans that he manifests the full force of the -characteristics obtained from the white. The heir -of the colonising race and of the autocthonous race, -both adapted to the same soil, he is extremely -patriotic; Americanism, a doctrine hostile to -foreigners, is his work. He wishes to obtain power -in order to usurp the privileges of the Creole -oligarchies. -</p> - -<p> -One may say that the admixture of the prevailing -strains with black blood has been disastrous for these -democracies. In applying John Stuart Mill's law -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P358"></a>358}</span> -of concomitant variations to the development of -Spanish America one may determine a necessary -relation between the numerical proportion of negroes -and the intensity of civilisation. Wealth increases -and internal order is greater in the Argentine, Uruguay, -and Chili, and it is precisely in these countries -that the proportion of negroes has always been low; -they have disappeared in the admixture of European -races. In Cuba, San Domingo, and some of the -republics of Central America, and certain of the -States of the Brazilial Confederation, where the -children of slaves constitute the greater portion of -the population, internal disorders are continual. A -black republic, Hayti, demonstrates by its revolutionary -history the political incapacity of the negro race. -</p> - -<p> -The mulatto and the <i>zambo</i> are the true American -hybrids. D'Orbigny believed the mestizo to be -superior to the descendants of the Africans imported -as slaves; Burmeister is of opinion that in the -mulatto the characteristics of the negro are -predominant. Ayarragaray states that the children born -of the union of negroes with <i>zambos</i> or natives are -in general inferior to their parents, as much in -intelligence as in physical energy. The inferior elements -of the races which unite are evidently combined in -their offspring. It is observed also that both in -the mulattos and the <i>zambos</i> certain internal -contradictions may be noted; their will is weak and -uncertain, and is dominated by instinct and gross -and violent passions. Weakness of character -corresponds with a turgid intelligence, incapable of -profound analysis, or method, or general ideas, and a -certain oratorical extravagance, a pompous rhetoric. -The mulatto loves luxury and extravagance; he is -servile, and lacks moral feeling. The invasion of -negroes affected all the Iberian colonies, where, to -replace the outrageously exploited Indian, African -slaves were imported by the ingenuous evangelists -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P359"></a>359}</span> -of the time. In Brazil, Cuba, Panama, Venezuela, -and Peru this caste forms a high proportion of the -total population. In Brazil 15 per cent. of the -population is composed of negroes, without counting the -immense number of mulattos and <i>zambos</i>. Bahia -is half an African city. In Rio de Janeiro the -negroes of pure blood abound. In Panama the -full-blooded Africans form 10 per cent. of the -population. Between 1759 and 1803 642,000 negroes -entered Brazil; between 1792 and 1810 Cuba -received 89,000. These figures prove the formidable -influence of the former slaves in modern America. -But they are revenged for their enslavement in that -their blood is mingled with that of their masters. -Incapable of order and self-government, they are -a factor of anarchy; every species of vain outer -show attracts them—sonorous phraseology and -ostentation. They make a show of an official -function, a university title, or an academic diploma. As -the Indian could not work in the tropics black -immigration was directed principally upon those regions, -and the enervating climate, the indiscipline of the -mulatto, and the weakness of the white element have -contributed to the decadence of the Equatorial -nations. -</p> - -<p> -The mulatto is more despised than the mestizo -because he often shows the abjectness of the slave -and the indecision of the hybrid; he is at once -servile and arrogant, envious and ambitious. His -violent desire to mount to a higher social rank, to -acquire wealth, power, and display, is, as Señor -Bunge very justly remarks, a "hyperæsthesia of -arrivism." -</p> - -<p> -The <i>zambos</i> have created nothing in America. On -the other hand, the robust mestizo populations, the -Mamelucos of Brazil, the Cholos of Peru and Bolivia, -the Rotos of Chili, descendants of Spaniards and the -Guarani Indians, are distinguished by their pride -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P360"></a>360}</span> -and virility. Instability, apathy, degeneration—all -the signs of exhausted race—are encountered far -more frequently in the mulatto than in the mestizo. -</p> - -<p> -The European established in America becomes a -Creole; his is a new race, the final product of -secular unions. He is neither Indian, nor black, -nor Spaniard. The castes are confounded and have -formed an American stock, in which we may -distinguish the psychological traits of the Indian and -the negro, while the shades of skin and forms of -skull reveal a remote intermixture. If all the -races of the New World were finally to unite, the -Creole would be the real American. -</p> - -<p> -He is idle and brilliant. There is nothing -excessive either in his ideals or his passions; all is -mediocre, measured, harmonious. His fine and -caustic irony chills his more exuberant enthusiasms; -he triumphs by means of laughter. He loves grace, -verbal elegance, quibbles even, and artistic form; -great passions or desires do not move him. In -religion he is sceptical, indifferent, and in politics he -disputes in the Byzantine manner. No one could -discover in him a trace of his Spanish forefather, -stoical and adventurous. -</p> - -<p> -But is unity possible with such numerous castes? -Must we not wait for the work of many centuries -before a clearly American population be formed? -The admixture of Indian, European, mestizo, and -mulatto blood continues. How form a homogeneous -race of these varieties? There will be a period of -painful unrest: American revolutions reveal the -disequilibrium of men and races. Miscegenation often -produces types devoid of all proportion, either -physical or moral. -</p> - -<p> -The resistance of neo-Americans to fatigue and -disease is considerably diminished. In the seething -retort of the future the elements of a novel -synthesis combine and grow yet more complex. If the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P361"></a>361}</span> -castes remain divided there will be no unity possible -to oppose a probable invasion. "Three conditions -are necessary," says M. Gustave Le Bon, "before -races can achieve fusion and form a new race, more -or less homogeneous. The first of these conditions -is that the races subjected to the process of crossing -must not be too inequal in number; the second, that -they must not differ too greatly in character; the -third, that they must be for a long time subjected -to an identical environment." -</p> - -<p> -Examining the mixed peoples of America in conformity -with these principles we see that the Indian -and the negro are greatly superior to the whites in -numbers; the pure European element does not -amount to 10 per cent. of the total population. In -Brazil and the Argentine there are numbers of -German and Italian immigrants, but in other countries -the necessary stream of invasion of superior races -does not exist. -</p> - -<p> -We have indicated the profound differences which -divide the bold Spaniard from the negro slave; we -have said that the servility of the Indian race -contrasts with the pride of the conquerors; that is to -say, that the mixture of rival castes, Iberians, Indians, -and negroes, has generally had disastrous -consequences. Perhaps we may except the fortunate -combinations of mestizo blood in Chili, Southern Brazil, -Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. Finally, the -territory has not yet exercised a decisive influence -upon the races in contact. The modern Frenchman -and Anglo-Saxon are born of the admixture of -ancient races subjected for centuries to the influences -of the soil. The great invasions which modified the -traditional stock took place a thousand years ago; -they explain the terrible struggles of the Middle -Ages. The new American type has not so long a -history. -</p> - -<p> -In short, none of the conditions established by the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P362"></a>362}</span> -French psychologists are realised by the -Latin-American democracies, and their populations are -therefore degenerate. -</p> - -<p> -The lower castes struggle successfully against the -traditional rules: the order which formerly existed -is followed by moral anarchy; solid conviction by -a superficial scepticism, and the Castilian tenacity -by indecision. The black race is doing its work and -the continent is returning to its primitive barbarism. -</p> - -<p> -This retrogression constitutes a very serious -menace. In South America civilisation is dependent -upon the numerical predominance of the victorious -Spaniard, on the triumph of the white man over the -mulatto, the negro, and the Indian. Only a -plentiful European immigration can re-establish the -shattered equilibrium of the American races. In -the Argentine the cosmopolitan alluvium has -destroyed the negro and mitigated the Indian. A -century ago there were 20 per cent. of Africans in -Buenos-Ayres; the ancient slave has now disappeared, -and mulattos are rare. In Mexico, on the -other hand, in 1810 the Europeans formed a sixth -part of the population; to-day they do not form -more than a twentieth part. -</p> - -<p> -Dr. Karl Pearson, in his celebrated book <i>National -Life and Character</i>, writes: "In the long run the -inferior civilisations give proof of a vigour greater -than that of the superior civilisations; the -disinherited gain upon the privileged castes, and the -conquered people absorbs the conquering people." He -declared further that Brazil would quickly fall -into the power of the negroes, and that while the -Indians would multiply and develop in the inaccessible -regions of the north and the centre, the white -peoples, crowded out by the progress of these races, -would be numerous only in the cities and the more -salubrious districts. This painful prophecy will be -accomplished to the letter if, in the conflict of castes, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P363"></a>363}</span> -the white population is not promptly reinforced by -the arrival of new colonists. -</p> - -<p> -But crossing alone will not communicate the -superior characteristics of the race to the mestizo -in a lasting manner. "It is necessary that he should -be the fruit of a union of the third, fourth, or fifth -degree; that is, that there should have been as many -successive crossings, with a father or a mother of -the white race, before the mestizo can be in a -condition to assimilate European culture," writes an -Argentine sociologist. For this vast process of -selection to be realised to the profit of the white man -not only must the races subjected to admixture exist -in certain proportions, but the mass of Europeans -must prevail and impose their temper upon the future -castes. In short, the problem of race depends upon -the solution given to the demographic problem. -Without the help of a new population there will be -in America not merely a lamentable exhaustion but -also a prompt recoil of the race. The phrase of -Alberdi is still true: "In America to govern means -to populate." -</p> - -<p> -The colonists brought with them the traditions and -manners of the disciplined races, a moral organisation -which was the work of centuries of common life. -People of rural extraction, when they reached -America, upheld the established interests, the -government, the law, and the peace; they worked, fought, -and laid up treasure. Moreover, only the most -enterprising of men emigrated, and they transmitted to -the new democracies an element of vitality they had -not before known. As early as the second generation -the descendants of the foreign colonists were -already Argentines, Brazilians, or Peruvians; their -patriotism was as ardent and devoted and exclusive -as that of their fathers. They completely adopted -the local manners. They had been transformed by -the action of the American environment. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P364"></a>364}</span> -</p> - -<p> -Basques or Italians have already transformed the -Argentine. They arrive as artisans, or labourers, -or clerks and traders; they form agricultural -colonies and become landowners. They soon break -their fetters; their sons become merchants, financial -agents, or wealthy plutocrats. Of 1,000 inhabitants -there are 128 Italians and only 99 Argentines who -own land. These Latins are prolific; in 1904 1,000 -Argentine women gave life to 80 infants; 1,000 -Spanish women to 123, and 1,000 Italian women to -175.[<a id="chap0702fn3text"></a><a href="#chap0702fn3">3</a>] These immigrants thus increase the national -wealth and people the desert.[<a id="chap0702fn4text"></a><a href="#chap0702fn4">4</a>] Moreover, their -descendants figure in politics and letters. Let us -mention only a few Argentine names remarkable -on one count or another: Groussac, Magnasco, -Becher, Bunge, Ingegnieros, Chiappori, Banchs, -and Gerchunoff. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0702fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0702fn1text">1</a>] The <i>Indianista</i> Society in Mexico and the <i>Pro Indigena</i> in Peru -were founded for the protection and rehabilitation of the Indians. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0702fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap0702fn2text">2</a>] The Bolivian sociologist, A. Argüedas, writes of the Aymara -Indians: "They are hard, rancorous, egotistic, and cruel. The -Indian herdsmen have no ambition other than to increase the -number of the heads of cattle which they pasture." -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0702fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap0702fn3text">3</a>] V. Gonnard, <i>L'Emigration européenne au XIXe siècle</i>, Paris, 1906, -p. 220 <i>et seq</i>. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0702fn4"></a> -[<a href="#chap0702fn4text">4</a>] To understand the significance of immigration, it is enough to -remark that there are in Mexico 7 inhabitants per square kilometre, -in Brazil 1.7, in the Argentine 1.6, while there are 72 in France, 105 -in Germany, no in Italy, 120 in England, and 248 in Belgium. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0703"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P365"></a>365}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER III -<br /><br /> -THE POLITICAL PROBLEM -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The <i>caudillos</i>: their action—Revolutions—Divorce between written -Constitutions and political life—The future parties—The -bureaucracy. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The development of the Ibero-American democracies -differs considerably from the admirable spirit of their -political charters. The latter include all the -principles of government applied by the great European -nations: the equilibrium of powers, natural rights, -a liberal suffrage, and representative assemblies, but -the reality contradicts the idealism of the statutes -imported from Europe. The traditions of the -prevailing race, in fact, have created simple and -barbarous systems of government. The <i>caudillo</i> is the -pivot of this political system: leader of a party, of -a social group, or a family whose important relations -make it powerful, he enforces his tyrannical will -upon the multitude. In him resides the power of -government and the law. On his permanent action -depends the internal order of the State, its economic -development, and the national organisation. His -authority is inviolable, superior to the Constitution -and its laws. -</p> - -<p> -All the history of America, and the inheritance of -the Spaniard and the Indian, has ended in the -exaltation of the <i>caudillo</i>. Government by <i>caciques</i>, -absolute masters, like the <i>caudillos</i> themselves, is -very ancient in Spain, as was shown by Joaquin -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P366"></a>366}</span> -Costa in his analysis of the foundations of Spanish -politics. In each province, in each city, was a -central personage in whom justice and might were -incarnated; admired by the crowd, obeyed by -opinion, enforcing his manners and his ideas. The -American Indians obeyed <i>caciques</i>, and the first -conquerors quickly saw that by winning over the -local chiefs they would at the same time subject -the native populations. The existence of the <i>caudillos</i> -may also be explained by territorial influences. It -has been written that the desert is monotheistic; -over its arid uniformity one imposing God reigns -supreme. It is the same with the steppes, the -<i>pampas</i>, and the table-lands of America; vast and -monotonous tracts; Paez and Quiroga were divinities -of such regions. No other force could limit their -authority. Contrasted with the uniform level of -mankind which is the work of the plains, their firm -chieftainship assumed divine attributes. American -revolutions are like the Moorish wars directed by mystic -Kaids. -</p> - -<p> -Señor Raphael Salillas writes that in Spain the -<i>cacique</i> is a hypertrophy of the political personage; -he symbolises the excess of power and of the ambition -of Spanish individualism. In America the first -<i>conquistadors</i> quarrelled for the supreme authority. -The civil wars of the Conquest arose from conflicts -between chiefs; none of them could conceive of -power as real unless it was unlimited and despotic. -After them the all-powerful viceroy, a demi-god in -his powers, exercised a similar domination. The -South American President, the heir to the traditions -of the governors of the colonial epoch, also possesses -the maximum of authority; the Constitution confers -upon him powers like those of the Czars of Russia. -</p> - -<p> -Power for its own sake is the ideal of such men. -The less important chieftains are satisfied by the -government of a province; the great leader aspires -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P367"></a>367}</span> -to rule a republic. Questions of personality are the -prevailing characteristics of politics; and despotic -rulers abound. When a "Regenerator" usurps the -supreme power a "Restorer" appears to dispute -it with him; then a "Liberator," and finally a -"Defender of the Constitution." The lesser gods -fight to their hearts' content, and the democracy -accepts the victor, in whom it admires the representative -leader, the robust creation of the race. Such a -man is not like the character of Ibsen's, who is strong -in his isolation; in the <i>caudillo</i> the average characteristics -of the nation, its vices and its qualities, are -better defined and more strongly accentuated; he -obeys his instincts and certain fixed ideas; he -conceives of no ideals; he is impressionable and -fanatical. -</p> - -<p> -Señor Ayarragarray distinguishes two varieties of -<i>caudillo</i>; the cunning and the violent. The latter -was above all peculiar to the military period of -Ibero-American history. The leader of a band that -ravaged like the Huns, he ruled by terror and -audacity, enforcing the discipline of the barracks in -civil life. The <i>caudillo</i> of the cunning type exercised -a more prolonged moral dictatorship; he belongs -to a period of transition between the military period -and the industrial period. This new master retained -the supreme power by lies and subterfuges. A -half-civilised tyrant, he used wealth as others used force, -and instead of brutally thrusting himself on the -people he employed a system of tortuous corruption. -</p> - -<p> -The rule of the <i>caudillos</i> led to presidential -government. The Constitutions established assemblies; but -tradition triumphed in spite of these theoretical -structures. Since the colonial period centralisation -and unity have been the American forms of -government. -</p> - -<p> -In the person of the President of these democracies -resides all the authority which usually devolves upon -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P368"></a>368}</span> -the public functionaries. He commands the army, -multiplies the wheels of administration, and surrounds -himself with doctors of law and Prætorian soldiers. -The Assemblies obey him; he intervenes in the course -of elections, and obtains the Parliamentary majorities -that he requires. The upper magistracy is sometimes -indocile to the desires of the Government, but -in the life of the provinces the judges depend -absolutely upon the political leaders. The supreme -direction of the finances, the army, the fleet, and the -administration in general rests with the President, -as before the republican era it belonged to the -viceroy. -</p> - -<p> -The parties fight among themselves, not only for -power, but to obtain this omnipotent presidency. -They realise that the chief of the Executive is the -effective agent of all political changes; that ministers -and parliaments are only secondary factors in political -life. An Argentine sociologist, Señor Joaquin Gonzalez, -has said very justly that "each governmental -period is characterised by the condition and the worth -of the man who presides over it. This presidential -system, in default of a solid and elevated political -education, has in great measure favoured the return -to the personal <i>régime</i>." -</p> - -<p> -To this system correspond the political groups -without programmes; men do not struggle for the -triumph of ideas, but for that of certain individuals. -The consecrated terms lose their traditional meaning. -There are civilists who uphold militarism; liberals -who strive to increase the presidential authority; -nationalists who favour cosmopolitanism; constitutionalists -who violate the political charter. The -personal system groups conservatives and liberals -together. Even in Chili, where the activity of the -parties has been unusually continuous, the older -parties have split up into shapeless factions. The -President establishes his despotic authority over the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P369"></a>369}</span> -confusion of these rival groups; he tries to dissolve -the small factions, to divide them, in order to rule -them. -</p> - -<p> -Without ideals or unity of action the parties are -transformed into greedy cliques, which are distinguished -by the colour of their favours. As in Byzantium, -so in Venezuela, the Blues struggle against the -Yellows, while in Uruguay the Whites oppose the -Reds, red being the distinctive colour of the Argentine -federalists. An aggressive intolerance divides these -groups; they gather round their <i>gonfaloniere</i> and -their party symbol in irreducible factions. No -common interest can reconcile them, not even that of -their native country. Each party supports a leader, -an interest, a dogma; on the one side a man beholds -his own party, the missionaries of truth and culture; -the other are his enemies, mercenary and corrupt. -Each group believes that it seeks to retain the -supremacy in the name of disinterested virtue and -patriotism. Rosas used to call his opponents -"infamous savages." For the gang in possession of -power, the revolutionaries are malefactors; for the -latter the ruling party are merely a government of -thieves and tyrants. There are gods of good and -evil, as in the Oriental theogonies. Educated in -the Roman Church, Americans bring into politics the -absolutism of religious dogmas; they have no -conception of toleration. The dominant party prefers -to annihilate its adversaries, to realise the complete -unanimity of the nation; the hatred of one's -opponents is the first duty of the prominent politician. -The opposition can hardly pretend to fill a place of -influence in the assemblies, or slowly to acquire -power. It is only by violence that the parties can -emerge from the condition of ostracism in which -they are held by the faction in power, and it is by -violence that they return to that condition. Apart -from the rule of the <i>caudillos</i> the political lie is -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P370"></a>370}</span> -triumphant; the freedom of the suffrage is only a -platonic promise inscribed in the Constitution; the -elections are the work of the Government; there is -no public opinion. Journalism, almost always -opportunist, merely reflects the indecision of the parties. -Political statutes and social conditions contradict each -other; the former proclaim equality, and there are -many races; there is universal suffrage, and the -races are illiterate; liberty and despotic rulers -enforce an arbitrary power. By means of the -prefects and governors the President directs the -elections, supports this or that candidate, and even -chooses his successor. He is the supreme elector. -</p> - -<p> -The representative assemblies become veritable -bureaucratic institutions; deputies and senators -accept the orders of the President. According to -Señor L. A. de Herrera, two castes are in process -of formation, "on the one hand the oligarchies, -which possess the supreme power in defiance of the -public will, and on the other the citizens, who are -deprived of all participation in the government." Frequent -revolutions and <i>pronunciamentos</i>, according -to Spanish tradition, disturb the ruling class in -the exercise of power; these superficial movements -cannot be compared to the great crises of European -history, which result in the disappearance of a -political system or bring about the advent of a new -social class. They are merely the result of the -perpetual conflict between the <i>caudillos</i>; the leaders and -the oligarchies change, but the system, with its -secular vices, remains. -</p> - -<p> -The South American revolutions may be regarded -as a necessary form of political activity: in Venezuela -fifty-two important revolts have broken out within -a century. The victorious party tries to destroy the -other groups; revolution thus represents a political -weapon to those parties which are deprived of the -suffrage. It corresponds to the protests of European -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P371"></a>371}</span> -minorities, to the anarchical strikes of the -proletariat, to the great public meetings of England, in -which the opposing parties attack the Government. -It is to the excessive simplicity of the political system, -in which opinion has no other means of expression -than the tyranny of oligarchies on the one hand and -the rebellion of the vanquished on the other, that the -interminable and sanguinary conflicts of Spanish -America are due. These internal wars continually -retard the economic development of the State and -decrease its stability; they ruin the foreign credit -of the republics, prepare the way for humiliating -interventions, and give rise to tyrannies; but it must -not be forgotten that revolution, in these democracies -without law and without real suffrage, has often been -the only means of defending liberty. Against the -tyrants even conservative spirits have revolted, and -rebellion has become reaction. -</p> - -<p> -For the rest, the civil wars have lost their former -character. They used to symbolise the return to -primeval chaos; vagabond multitudes, armed bands, -desolated the fields and burned the towns. Assassination, -theft, the devastation of property and estates, -war without mercy, fire, and all the powers of -destruction were in revolt against the feeble -foundations of nationality. -</p> - -<p> -As by the inverse selection of the Spanish Inquisition, -the most intelligent and the most cultivated -perished. Brutal horsemen occupied the cities in -which Spanish civilisation had attained its apogee. -Sarmiento has described the assault on the nomad -wagons which bore the national <i>penates</i> across the -Argentine <i>pampas</i> in a sort of Tartar Odyssey amid -the infinite desolation of the plains. Even when the -social classes were organised and the economic -interests defined the rivality of the leaders continued, -and politics remained personal. However, civil war is -already no longer the brutal onset of men with neither -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P372"></a>372}</span> -law nor faith, no longer an irruption of outlaws. -The drama has replaced the epic; the conflict of -passions and interests succeeds to the battles of -semi-divine personages, proud of their tragic mission. -Men buy votes; electoral committees falsify the -suffrage, as in the United States, by force of money. -</p> - -<p> -Thus the plutocracy conquers the benches of -Congress. -</p> - -<p> -If the continent spontaneously creates dictators -then is all the ambitious structure of American -politics—parliaments, ministers, and -municipalities—merely a delusive invention? -</p> - -<p> -In some States in which the economic life is -intense, as in the Argentine, Chili, Brazil, and -Uruguay, benevolent despotism does not mark the -high-water limit of national development; there new parties -are forming themselves, and the <i>caudillos</i> will soon -disappear. Dr. Ingegnieros foresees the creation in -the Argentine of new political groups, with financial -tendencies. The rural class which rules in the -provinces and possesses the great mass of the national -wealth, which is derived from stock-raising and -agriculture, and the commercial and industrial -middle-class of the cities, will form, like the Tories and -Whigs in England, the two parties of the future. -Once the secondary parties have disappeared, the -two great political organisations will prevail alone. -</p> - -<p> -This transformation of the old groups is logical. -In the colonial period the conflict for the possession -of power took place within the narrow limits of public -life; the Spaniards were in the majority in the -<i>audiencas</i>, the courts, and the Creoles in the <i>cabildos</i>, -the municipalities. The former upheld religious -intolerance, economic monopoly, and the exclusive and -universal empire of the metropolis; the latter -endeavoured to obtain economic and political equality, -the abolition of privileges, and a national government. -After the revolution these divisions grew more -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P373"></a>373}</span> -complex; federalism and unity, religious quarrels, and -sometimes the mutual hostility of the different castes, -divided men into shifting groups. Politics became -the warfare of irreducible clans. In the organised -nations of the south the dissensions gradually lost -their importance, and a general indifference -succeeded to the old theological hatreds. Federals and -municipalists were still fighting, but the original -bitterness of their antagonism was dead. On the -other hand, the castes were progressively becoming -confounded by intermarriage. -</p> - -<p> -However, the economic factors persisted, and their -importance has increased as towns and industries -have developed. Financial questions will in future -divide the citizens of those democracies which have -become plainly industrial; the agrarians will oppose -the manufacturers and the free-traders the -protectionists. Like the republicans and democrats of the -United States, certain groups will favour imperialism -and others neutrality. The group which would -stimulate Yankee or German influence will be opposed -by another, the partisan of Italian or French activity. -</p> - -<p> -Already in Cuba there are some who favour -annexation by the United States, while others -demand complete autonomy. Some politicians -would agree to immigration without reserve or -restriction, while others, the nationalists, would -defend the integrity of their inheritance against -foreign invasion. America, like modern France, will -have its <i>métèques</i>; they will be the Europeans, the -Yankees, and the yellow races. -</p> - -<p> -Apart from the southern nations there has as yet -been no formation of classes or social interests. None -of the problems which agitate Europe—extension of -the suffrage, proportional representation, municipal -autonomy—have any immediate importance among -them. The State is the necessary guardian, a kind -of social providence whence derive riches, strength, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P374"></a>374}</span> -and progress. To weaken this influence would be -to encourage internal disorder; only those -Constitutions have been of use in America which have -reinforced the central power against the attacks of -a perpetual anarchy. -</p> - -<p> -The progress of these democracies is the work of -foreign capital, and when political anarchy prevails -credit collapses. Governments which ensure peace -and paternal tyrants are therefore preferable to -demagogues. A young Venezuelan critic, Señor Machado -Hernandez, having studied the history of his country, -rent as it has been by revolutions, considers that -the best form of government for America is that -which reinforces the attributions of the executive and -establishes a dictatorship. In place of the Swiss -referendum and the federal organisation of the United -States autocracy is, it seems to us, the only practical -practical means of government. -</p> - -<p> -To increase the duration of the presidency in order -to avoid the too frequent conflicts of parties; to -simplify the political machine, which transforms the -increasingly numerous parliaments into mere -bureaucratic institutions; to prolong the mandate of -senators and deputies, so that the life of the people -shall not be disturbed by continual elections; in -short, to surrender the ingenuous dogmas of the -political statutes in favour of concrete reforms: such -would appear to be the ideal which in Tropical -America—in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia—would arrest -the destructive action of revolutions. -</p> - -<p> -It is obvious that a president furnished with a -strong authority may quickly become a tyrant, but -in these nations is not political power always a -semi-dictatorship which is tolerated? The head of the -State governs for four years according to the term -of the Constitution, but his action is continued by -his successor. The real duration of his political -action is twenty years. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P375"></a>375}</span> -</p> - -<p> -If a tutelary president is necessary it is none the -less essential to oppose his autocracy by a moderative -power which would recall, in its constitution, -the life-Senate of Bolivar. One may even conceive -of a Senate which would represent the real national -interests: a stable body, the union of all the forces -of social conservation; a serene assembly untroubled -by democratic cravings, in which the clergy, the -universities, commerce, the industries, the army, the -marine, and the judiciary, might defend the Constitution -and tradition against the assaults of demagogy, -against too audacious reformers. Garcia-Moreno -wished to see the mandate of the senators extended -to a term of twelve years. -</p> - -<p> -The quality of the legislative chambers is ineffective -in America. In fact, both being elected by the -popular vote, and having like electoral majorities, -the Lower Chamber always gets its way with the -Senate, which represents neither interests nor -traditions. There is in reality one uniform assembly -artificially divided into two independent bodies. The -whole is dominated, there being no conservative -institutions as a useful corrective, by the anonymous -or Jacobin will of the multitude, which is moved by -all sorts of divided interests: the craving for power, -provincial pride, and a passion for cabal and -intrigue. -</p> - -<p> -A factor of American politics which is as serious -as the periodical revolutions is the development of -the bureaucracy. -</p> - -<p> -In the still simple life of the nation the organs of -the public administration are complicated in the most -exaggerated manner. The budget supports a sterile -class recruited principally among the Creoles, who -prefer the security of officialism to the conquest of -the soil. Energy and hope diminish with the almost -infinite increase of the "budgetivores." -</p> - -<p> -Foreigners monopolise trade and industry, and -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P376"></a>376}</span> -thus acquire property in the soil which has been -inherited by a race of Americans without energy. -</p> - -<p> -A North American observer[<a id="chap0703fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0703fn1">1</a>] writes that the great -fortunes of the Argentines of American extraction -have been made by the ever-increasing value of real -estate, and are due to the natural development of the -country rather than to their own initiative or -enterprise. But the South Americans are on the way -to waste these fortunes, and the fortunate colonists -from Spain and Italy are gradually replacing them -in the social hierarchy. -</p> - -<p> -According to a Mexican statesman, Señor Justo -Sierra, the government in South America is an -administration of employés, protected by other -employés, the army. These nations, which are -being invaded by active immigrants, are thus -directed by a group of mandarins, and if the young -men of these countries are not encouraged in -commercial and industrial vocations by a practical -education the enriched colonists will expel the Creole -from his ancient position. A few writers defend the -bureaucracy as the refuge, in the face of the -cosmopolitan invasion, of the choice spirits of the nation: -writers, artists, and politicians. "If foreigners -dispose of the material fortune of the country," says a -distinguished young observer, Señor Manuel Galvez, -"it is just that we others, Argentines, should dispose -of its intellectual fortune." A noble idealism, -satisfied by an unreal wealth! But from the point of -view of the national life this lack of equilibrium -is disturbing. In face of the progress of the -victorious foreigners who are making themselves masters -of the soil, to shut oneself up in a tower of ivory -would be the most complete of renunciations. -</p> - -<p> -In the organisation of the America of the future -we must not forget the suggestions of Caliban. -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P377"></a>377}</span> -Among the innumerable bureaucrats who devour the -budgets there will not always be writers worthy of -official protection; they will rather be recruited -among an indolent youth, restive under any sustained -effort. -</p> - -<p> -The encouragement of "choice spirits" must not -be confounded with the unjustifiable maintenance of -a legion of parasites. The <i>caudillo</i> multiplies -functions in order to reward his friends; nepotism -prevails in the world of politics. -</p> - -<p> -The great political transformations of the future -will be due to the development of the common -wealth; new parties will appear and the bureaucracy -will have to be considerably diminished. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0703fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0703fn1text">1</a>] Cited by J. V. Gonzalez in <i>La Nación</i>, Buenos-Ayres, -May 25, 1910. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap0704"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P378"></a>378}</span></p> - -<h3> -CHAPTER IV -<br /><br /> -THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -Loans—Budgets—Paper money—The formation of national capital. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Unexploited wealth abounds in America. Forests -of rubber, as in the African Congo; mines of gold -and diamonds, which recall the treasures of the -Transvaal and the Klondyke; rivers which flow over -beds of auriferous sand, like the Pactolus of ancient -legend; coffee, cocoa, and wheat, whose abundance -is such that these products are enough to glut the -markets of the world. But there is no national -capital. This contrast between the wealth of the -soil and the poverty of the State gives rise to serious -economic problems. -</p> - -<p> -By means of long-sustained efforts, an active race -would have won financial independence. The -Latin-Americans, idle, and accustomed to leave everything -to the initiative of the State, have been unable to -effect the conquest of the soil, and it is foreign -capital that exploits the treasure of America. -</p> - -<p> -Since the very beginnings of independence the -Latin democracies, lacking financial reserves, have -had need of European gold. The government of -Spain used to seize upon the wealth of her colonies -to satisfy the needs of a prodigal court, and to prevent -its own bankruptcy. The independence of America -was won with the aid of English money, hence the -first of the necessary loans. Canning encouraged -the South American revolutionaries, and the English -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P379"></a>379}</span> -bankers gave their support to their plans, in the -shape of loans to the new governments. Colombian, -Argentine, and Peruvian agents solicited heavy loans -in the City of London, without which assistance the -Spanish power could never have been defeated. -</p> - -<p> -The republican <i>régime</i> thus commenced its career -by assuming imperious financial responsibilities. -Before commencing to practise a policy of fiscal -economy, it was necessary to accept the conclusion -of the most urgent loans, but once the European -markets were open the financial orgy commenced. -In 1820 Señor Zea concluded the first Colombian -loan; in 1821 the government of that country -declared that it could not ensure the service of the -debt. The necessities of the war with Spain and -the always difficult task of building up a new society -demanded the assistance of foreign gold; loans -accumulated, and very soon various States were obliged -to solicit the simultaneous reduction of the capital -borrowed and the rate of interest paid. The lamentable -history of these bankrupt democracies dates from -this period. -</p> - -<p> -Little by little these financial contracts lost all -semblance of serious business. In the impossibility -of obtaining really solid guarantees the bankers -imposed preposterous conditions, and issue at a -discount became the rule with the new conventions. A -series of interventions in Buenos-Ayres, Mexico, San -Domingo, and Venezuela, diplomatic conflicts, and -claims for indemnity resulted from this precarious -procedure. Moreover, thanks to the protection -accorded by their respective countries, foreigners -acquired a privileged position. The Americans were -subjected to the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts, -before which they could demand the payment of -their claims on the State; foreigners enjoyed -exceptional treatment. A statute was enacted in their -favour, and their governments supported them in the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P380"></a>380}</span> -recovery of unjustifiable claims. Sir Charles Wyke, -English minister to Mexico, wrote to the Foreign -Office in 1862: "Nineteen out of twenty foreigners -who reside in this unfortunate country have some -claim against the government in one way or another. -Many of these claims are really based on the denial -of real justice, while others have been fabricated -throughout, as a good speculation, which would -enable the claimant to obtain money for some -imaginary wrong; for example, three days' imprisonment -which was intentionally provoked with the -object of formulating a claim which might be pushed -to an exorbitant figure."[<a id="chap0704fn1text"></a><a href="#chap0704fn1">1</a>] -</p> - -<p> -In face of the string of debts which arose from the -loans themselves, or from claims for damages suffered -during the civil wars, the governments could only -succumb. The immorality of the fiscal agents and -the greed of the foreigner will explain these -continual bankruptcies, which constitute the financial -history of America. -</p> - -<p> -The descendants of the prodigal Spanish conquerors, -who knew nothing of labour or thrift, have -incessantly resorted to fresh loans in order to fill the -gaps in their budgets. Politicians knew of only one -solution of the economic disorder—to borrow, so that -little by little the Latin-American countries became -actually the financial colonies of Europe. -</p> - -<p> -Economic dependence has a necessary corollary—political -servitude. French intervention in Mexico -was originally caused by the mass of unsatisfied -financial claims; foreigners, the creditors of the -State, were in favour of intervention. England and -France, who began by seeking to ensure the recovery -of certain debts, finally forced a monarch upon -the debitor nation. The United States entertained -the ambition of becoming the sole creditor of the -American peoples: this remarkable privilege would -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P381"></a>381}</span> -have assured them of an incontestable hegemony over -the whole continent. -</p> - -<p> -In the history of Latin America loans symbolise -political disorder, lack of foresight, and waste; it is -thanks to loans that revolutions are carried out, and -it is by loans that the <i>caudillos</i> have enriched -themselves. Old debts are liquidated by means of new, -and budgetary deficits are balanced by means of -foreign gold. When the poverty caused by political -disorder becomes too great the American governments -clamour feverishly in the markets of Europe for -the hypothecation of the public revenues, and the -issue of fresh funds, offering to pay a high interest, -and recognising the rights of suspended creditors. -</p> - -<p> -On the one hand the budget is loaded to create new -employments in order to assuage the national appetite -for sinecures, while the protective tariffs are raised -to enrich the State. Thus the forces of production -disappear, life becomes dearer, and poverty can only -increase. America has until lately known little of -productive loans intended for use in the construction -of railways, irrigation works, harbours, or for the -organisation of colonies of immigrants. -</p> - -<p> -The product of the customs and other fiscal dues -is not enough to stimulate the material progress of -a nation. So application is made to the bankers of -London or Paris; but it is the very excess of these -loan operations and the bad employment of the funds -obtained that impoverishes the continent. The -excessive number of administrative sinecures, the greed -of the leaders, the vanity of governments, all call -for gold; and when the normal revenues are not -sufficient to enrich these hungry oligarchies, a loan -which may involve the very future of the country -appears to all to be the natural remedy. -</p> - -<p> -The budgets of various States complicate still -further a situation already difficult. They increase -beyond all measure, without the slightest relation to -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P382"></a>382}</span> -the progress made by the nation. They are based -upon taxes which are one of the causes of the national -impoverishment, or upon a protectionist tariff which -adds greatly to the cost of life. The politicians, -thinking chiefly of appearances, neglect the -development of the national resources for the immediate -augmentation of the fiscal revenues; thanks to fresh -taxes, the budgets increase. These resources are -not employed in furthering profitable undertakings, -such as building railroads or highways, or increasing -the navigability of the rivers. The bureaucracy is -increased in a like proportion, and the budgets, -swelled in order to dupe the outside world, serve only -to support a nest of parasites. In the economic life -of these countries the State is a kind of beneficent -providence which creates and preserves the fortune of -individual persons, increases the common poverty by -taxation, display, useless enterprises, the upkeep of -military and civil officials, and the waste of money -borrowed abroad; such is the "alimentary politics" -of which Le Play speaks. The government is the -public treasury; by the government all citizens live, -directly or indirectly, and the foreigner profits by -exploiting the national wealth. A centralising power, -the State forces a golden livery upon this bureaucratic -mob of magistrates and deputies, political masters -and teachers. -</p> - -<p> -To sum up, the new continent, politically free, is -economically a vassal. This dependence is -inevitable; without European capital there would have -been no railways, no ports, and no stable government -in America. But the disorder which prevails in the -finances of the country changes into a real servitude -what might otherwise have been a beneficial relation. -By the accumulation of loans frequent crises are -provoked, and frequent occasions of foreign intervention. -</p> - -<p> -A policy of thrift would have led to the establishment -of economic equilibrium. Foreign gold has -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P383"></a>383}</span> -poured in continually, not only in the form of loans -but in the shape of material works—railways, ports, -industries, and industrial undertakings. It is in this -way that English capital has accumulated in the -Argentine, Uruguay, Brazil, and Chili, where it has -become a prominent factor in the industrial development -of the country. In the Argentine it amounts -to 300 millions, in Brazil to 150 millions, in Chili to -51 millions, and in Uruguay to 46 millions of pounds -sterling. -</p> - -<p> -New problems arise from the relation between the -size of the population and the amount of the capital -imported. The increase of alien wealth in nations -which are not fertilised by powerful currents of -immigration constitutes a real danger. To pay the -incessantly increasing interest of the wealth borrowed, -fresh sources of production and a constant increase -of economic exchanges are necessary; in a word, a -greater density of population. The exhaustion of the -human stock in the debitor nations creates a very -serious lack of financial equilibrium, which may -result, not only in bankruptcy but also in the loss of -political independence by annexation. -</p> - -<p> -The solution of the financial problem depends, then, -upon the solution of the problem of population. -Immigrants will solve it by increasing the number -of productive units, by accumulating their savings, -by irresistible efforts which lay the foundations of -solid fortunes. It is true that the wealth which -they will create will also be of foreign origin, but -in the second or third generation the descendants -of the enriched colonists will become true citizens of -the country in which their fathers have established -themselves. They will have forgotten their country -of origin, and will mingle with the old families which -conserve the national traditions. -</p> - -<p> -The ideal of peoples whose economic condition is -dependence is naturally autonomy; without it all -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P384"></a>384}</span> -liberty is precarious. A considerable stream of -exports flows from America to Europe to pay for -imports and the interest on foreign capital. Only -this large exportation of products, as in the case of -the Argentine, Mexico, and Brazil, can maintain a -favourable commercial balance. The Argentine -economist Alberto Martinez has demonstrated that -as in his country there is neither an economic reserve -nor a national capital, the diminution of exports causes -serious financial disturbances; exchange is unstable, -the rate rises, trade falls off, and credit is suspended. -</p> - -<p> -In other countries the economic system is instability -itself. It depends almost entirely on two or three -agricultural products—coffee, cane-sugar, and rubber—and -the incessant fluctuations in the prices of these -products, which constitute the wealth of the country. -One does not observe the regularity of the exports -of the Argentine and Brazil, nor any important -industrial development. To remedy the lack of equilibrium -in the budget and to pay the interest on the foreign -debt, the State, the guardian of the public fortune, -once more resorts to loans. The creation of a -national capital is thus an urgent necessity for these -prodigal democracies. -</p> - -<p> -By stimulating the development of agriculture, by -creating or protecting industry, by diminishing the -budgetary charges by the reduction of useless -bureaucratic employments and sumptuary expenses, the -Latin-American governments could gradually -establish the necessary reserves. -</p> - -<p> -On the other hand, fiscal agreements, commercial -treaties, and railways must contribute to the solidarity -of these nations among themselves. Europe has -invested vast sums of capital in America; she sends -thither large quantities of the products of her -industries, but there are peoples more favoured than others -by this invasion of capital. It should be possible -by a series of practical conventions to lay the foundations -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P385"></a>385}</span> -of a <i>Zollverein</i>. The dependence of certain -republics as compared with others should tend to -make them commercially independent of Europe. -Already a number of industries are being developed -in America; in Brazil their yield attains the annual -value of 46 million pounds; in 1909 the imports -were diminished by 3 million pounds in consequence -of this new economic factor. It may be supposed that -in the still distant future the agricultural peoples of -America will buy the products of their industrial -neighbours, the Argentine, Brazil, and Uruguay. The -unification of the monetary system will still further -facilitate the development of this inter-state -commerce, this trade between zones almost exclusively -agricultural, and other regions both agricultural and -industrial; thus closer economic relations will be -the basis of a lasting political understanding. No -American republic has yet reached the term of its -economic development. -</p> - -<p> -We may distinguish three periods in the evolution -of the nations towards autonomy; during the first -their dependence is absolute, in respect of ideas as -much as of men and capital; such is the present -situation of the majority of the Latin democracies. -During the second period agriculture suffices for the -national necessities and industry develops; the -Argentine, Brazil, and Mexico are already in this -state of partial liberty. Finally, the period of -agricultural and industrial exportation commences, and -the intellectual influence of the country makes itself -felt beyond the frontiers. After France and England, -Germany and the United States reached this glorious -phase. Neither Mexico nor the Argentine nor Brazil -is as yet flooding the world with its industrial -products nor affecting it by its original intellectual -activities; there is no culture or philosophy that we -can properly term Argentine or Chilian. Europe is -tributary to the Argentine for her wheat and meats, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P386"></a>386}</span> -and to Brazil for her coffee, but ideas and machines -come from Paris, London, and New York. -</p> - -<p> -M. Limantour, who tried to save the Mexican railways -from the Yankee capitalists, and the Argentine -economists, who endeavoured to convert the foreign -into a national debt, are preparing the way for the -future reign of financial liberty; but this -transformation depends on the increase of public or private -wealth and the activity of immigrants, who in -hospitable America soon become landed proprietors or -merchants. -</p> - -<p> -In the country districts, as in the cities, which are -every day more numerous, the common wealth and -the fiscal revenues are increasing, owing to the efforts -of industrious men. Not only are foreign industrial -undertakings being founded, but national institutions -also, fed by national capital. When the necessary -loans can be subscribed in the country itself, when -railways and ports are constructed with State or -private capital, or with the financial aid of other -South American governments; when American -multi-millionaires (there are already plenty of them in -the Argentine) have effected the nationalisation of the -public works now in the hands of foreigners, then the -economic ideal of these democracies will be realised. -</p> - -<p> -Latin America may already be considered as -independent from the agricultural point of view; it -possesses riches which are peculiar to it: coffee to -Brazil, wheat to the Argentine, sugar to Peru, fruits -and rubber to the Tropics. Its productive capacity -is considerable. It may rule the markets of the -world. The systematic exploitation of its mines will -reveal treasures which are not even suspected. We -may say, then, that even without great industries the -American continent, independent in the agricultural -domain, and an exporter of precious metals, may -win a doubtless precarious economic liberty. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap0704fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap0704fn1text">1</a>] Cited by F. Bulnes, <i>El Verdadero Juarez</i>, -Paris, 1904, p. 29. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap08"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P387"></a>387}</span></p> - -<h3> -CONCLUSION -<br /><br /> -AMERICA AND THE FUTURE OF THE LATIN PEOPLES -</h3> - -<p class="intro"> -The Panama Canal and the two Americas—The future conflicts -between Slavs, Germans, Anglo-Saxons, and Latins—The role -of Latin America. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -A new route offered to human commerce transforms -the politics of the world. The Suez Canal opened -the legendary East to Europe, directed the stream of -European emigration towards Australia, and favoured -the formation, in South Africa, of an Anglo-Saxon -Confederation. The Panama Canal is destined to -produce profound perturbations in the equilibrium -of the nations of the New World. Humboldt -announced these changes in 1804:[<a id="chap08fn1text"></a><a href="#chap08fn1">1</a>] "The products -of China will be brought more than 6,000 miles nearer -Europe and the United States; great changes will -take place in the political condition of eastern Asia, -because this tongue of earth (Panama) has for -centuries been the rampart of the independence of -China and Japan." -</p> - -<p> -The Atlantic is to-day the ocean of the civilised -world. The opening of the canal will thus displace -the political axis of the world. The Pacific, an -ocean separated from the civilising currents of -Europe, will receive directly from the Old World -the wealth and products of its labour and its -emigrants. Until the present time the United States -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P388"></a>388}</span> -and Japan have shared in its rule as a <i>mare clausum</i>, -and they are disputing the supremacy in Asia and -Western America. Once the isthmus is pierced, new -commercial peoples may invade with their victorious -industries the enchanted lands of Asia and the -distant republics of South America. New York will -be nearer to Callao, but the distance between -Hamburg and Havre and the Peruvian coast will be -equally diminished. It has been calculated that by -the new route the voyage between Liverpool and the -great ports of the Pacific will be reduced by 2,600 -to 6,000 miles, according to the respective positions -of the latter, and the distance between New York -and the same centres of commercial activity will be -diminished by 1,000 to 8,400 miles. German, -French, and English navigation companies will run -a service of modern vessels direct to the great ports -of Chili and China. The paths of the world's trade -will be changed; Panama will form the gate of -civilisation to Eastern Asia and Western America, -as Suez is to Central Asia, Eastern Africa, and -Oceania. The Atlantic will become the ocean of the -Old World. -</p> - -<p> -The trade of the new era must undergo unexpected -transformations. The influence of Europe in China -and Western America will be considerably increased. -Germany should become the rival of the United States -in the commercial supremacy in the East and in the -republics of Latin America. Her vessels, messengers -of imperialism, which now make long voyages -through the Straits of Magellan to reach Valparaiso -and Callao, will then employ the canal route. The -vessels of Japan will bear to Europe, as formerly -did the Phoenician navigators, the products of the -exotic Orient; New York will dethrone Antwerp, -Hamburg, and Liverpool; the English will lose -their historic position as intermediaries between -Europe and Asia. The United States, masters of -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P389"></a>389}</span> -the canal, will create in New York a great fair in -which the merchandise of East and West will be -accumulated: the treasures of Asia, the gold of -Europe, and the products of their own overgrown -industries. They will thus have won an economic -hegemony over the Pacific, South America, and -China, where they will be at least privileged -competitors in the struggle between England and -Germany. Between New York and Hong Kong, New -York and Yokohama, and New York and Melbourne -new commercial relations will be established. In -approaching New York the East will recede from -Liverpool and the ports of Europe, and the Panama -route will favour the industries of the United States -in Asia and Oceania. It may already be foreseen -that the United States will be terrible competitors -in Australia, and above all in New Zealand, where -they will drive the English merchants from the -markets. It is difficult to write, like Tarde, a -"fragment of future history"; too many unknown -forces intervene in the historical drama of the -peoples. But no doubt, unless some extraordinary -event occurs to disturb the evolution of the modern -peoples, the great nations of industrial Europe and -Japan, the champion of Asiatic integrity, will oppose -the formidable progress of the United States. -</p> - -<p> -The canal sets a frontier to Yankee ambition; it -is the southern line, the "South Coast Line" of -which a North American politician, Jefferson, used -to dream. As early as 1809 he believed that Cuba -and Canada would become incorporated, as States -of the Union, in the immense Confederation; anticipating -the rude lyrics of Walt Whitman, he dreamed -of founding "an empire of liberty so vast that the -like has never been seen." Heirs to the Anglo-Saxon -genius, the Americans of the North wish to -form a democratic federation. -</p> - -<p> -They have succeeded in doing in Cuba what Japan -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P390"></a>390}</span> -has done in Korea: first, the struggle for autonomy, -then the necessary intervention, then a protectorate, -and perhaps annexation. Thus the prophecy of -Jefferson will be realised. Between Canada, an -autonomous colony, and the United States, there are -common economic interests, and commercial treaties -have created such a plexus of interests that the -evolution from these practical alliances to political union -would seem to be a simple matter. The disintegration -of the Anglo-Saxon Empire will be the work -of the United States. American activities in Canada -are steadily increasing; the Yankee capital -employed in various Canadian industries amounts to -£20,000,000. Trade is increasing, and by virtue -of new conventions the United States will be even -better situated than ever to dispute the Canadian -markets with England. In this free colony there is -a Far West which the States have peopled. The -East is Anglo-Saxon, industrial, aristocratic; the -West, barbarian and agrarian, desires union with -the neighbouring democracy. Münsterberg reports -that a Boston journal prints every day, in large -letters, on the first page, that the first duty of the -United States is the annexation of Canada. -</p> - -<p> -The friendship of England, and the moral harmony -of the English-speaking world, will perhaps check -the progress of American imperialism northward; -but the capital which develops and exploits the west -of Canada is a competitor which cannot be resisted. -Moreover, such men as Goldwin Smith, a moral -authority in Canada, counsel union with the great -Republican neighbour. Free trade, which the English -radicals wish to maintain, relaxes the economic ties -which might ensure the duration of the British -Empire, and prevents the formation of a <i>Zollverein</i>, -of that fiscal union between Great Britain and her -colonies which was the great project of Chamberlain. -It is to guarantee commercial and economic -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P391"></a>391}</span> -interests that Canada is approaching the United -States and withdrawing from England. -</p> - -<p> -Mexico, where £100,000,000 of American capital -is invested; Panama, a republic subjected to the -protectorate of the Anglo-Saxon North; the Canal -Zone, which the Yankees have acquired as a remote -southern possession; the Antilles, which they are -gradually absorbing; Central America, where ever -turbulent republics tolerate pacificatory intervention; -and Canada, rich and autonomous, form, for the -statesmen of Washington and the Yellow Press, a -great and desirable empire. In two centuries the -small Puritan colonies of the Atlantic seaboard will -perhaps have come to govern the continent from the -Pole to the Tropics; and will create, with the aid -of all the races of mankind, a new Anglo-Saxon -humanity, industrial and democratic. Thus the -Roman Republic, from her narrow home between -the Apennines, governed the world, as did Great -Britain, peopled by a tenacious race, the sea. -</p> - -<p> -To check the advance of the United States the -South will lack a political force of the same weight. -The conflict between the united Americans of the -North and the divided inhabitants of the South will -necessarily terminate fatally for the Latin New -World. -</p> - -<p> -The Pacific will be the theatre of racial wars and -vast and transforming emigrations. Once the canal -is open it is extremely probable that European -emigrants will descend in large numbers upon the -seaboard of Western America. Brazil and the Argentine -attract the modern adventurer; their Eldorado is -in the Argentine plains or the forests of Brazil. -Venezuela, invaded by emigrants of Germanic race, -will be born again; a dense population will fill her -valleys, and Caracas will become a great Latin city. -But in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, there -is a great lack of centres of civilisation in the -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P392"></a>392}</span> -interior, and the sierra is largely wild and unpeopled; -all progress is in the small towns of the coast, set -amidst the aridity of the desert. Chinese and -Japanese, who are content with low wages, are crushing -the European worker by their competition. Japanese -colonies will people the American West from Panama -to Chili, and in these new countries the fusion of -Japanese and Indian blood is by no means impossible. -</p> - -<p> -There will always be two distinct regions in South -America, separated by the Andes and divided by -the Tropics. The Atlantic region will retain its -liberty, and increase in wealth and in power. It -is possible that the south of Brazil will become -German, but the Argentine, Chili, Uruguay, and the -great Brazilian States will defend the Latin heritage -and European tradition. To the north and the west -depopulated and divided nations will struggle against -an invasion of peoples of similar races coming from -the east and against a conquering people from the -north. Thanks to the protection of Japan, they may -be able to free themselves from the tutelage of the -United States, or they may be able to hold off the -subjects of the Mikado by submitting to the influence -of North America. Only the federation of all the -Latin republics under the pressure of Europe—that -is to say, of England, France, and Italy, who have -important markets in America—might save the -nations of the Pacific, just as a century ago Great -Britain was able to defend the autonomy of these -peoples against the mystic projects of the Holy -Alliance. -</p> - -<p> -The Monroe doctrine, which prohibits the -intervention of Europe in the affairs of America and -angers the German imperialists, the professors of -external expansion, like Münsterberg, may become -obsolete. If Germany or Japan were to defeat the -United States, this tutelary doctrine would be only -a melancholy memory. Latin America would emerge -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P393"></a>393}</span> -from the isolation imposed upon it by the Yankee -nation, and would form part of the European concert, -the combination of political forces—alliances and -understandings—which is the basis of the modern -equilibrium. It would become united by political ties -to the nations which enrich it with their capital and -buy its products. -</p> - -<p> -Japan has not lost her originality as an Asiatic -nation, because she is united to England by a treaty -which assures the <i>status quo</i> in the East. The -Latin republics will not renounce their character as -American nations because they may conclude -understandings with the nations of the West. Already -there are commercial treaties between these nations -and Europe, as well as a harmony of economic and -intellectual interests. Brazil and the Argentine, -where British money and French ideals prevail, -might themselves unite to form a vast combination -of alliances with the group of European nations -which conquered, civilised, and enriched America: -that is, Spain, France, and England. Will not a -community of interests in America give a new strength -to the union of these peoples in Europe? Great -political changes would result from these new -influences: the American Latins, by entering into the -combinations of European politics, would divide -Italy, whose interests in the Argentine and Brazil -are so great, from the Triple Alliance, and would -strengthen the understanding between England and -France against Germany, which disputes with them -not only the hegemony of Europe but also the -preponderance in America. Canning, who opposed the -designs of the Holy Alliance, used to say a century -ago that he had given the New World liberty in order -to restore equilibrium to the Old World. Against -the theocratic peoples who were seeking to -overshadow the destinies of the earth he evoked the -apparition of these free democracies destined to -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P394"></a>394}</span> -establish the benefits of liberty on a firm footing. -His hope was premature, because it was hardly -possible for perfect republics to rise from the ruins -of Spanish absolutism. Even to-day, after a century -of attempts at constitutional government, only a few -Latin American States—the Argentine, Brazil, Chili, -Peru, and Bolivia—seem capable of fulfilling the -desires of Canning. -</p> - -<p> -These peoples would contribute to the defence of -the Latin ideal. But is not this an excessive ambition -for nations still semi-barbarous? The old races of -the West contemplate their impetuous advance with -much the same distrust as that which Rome experienced -as she watched the turbulent migrations of -Goths and Germans. And even if the Latin race -could check its irremediable decadence by the aid -of the wealth and youth of these American peoples, -would it really be profitable to oppose the triumph of -the Anglo-Saxons and the Slavs for the sake of -saving a fallen caste? Seventy years ago Tocqueville -visited the United States and divined their future -greatness. To-day M. Clemenceau, a politician and -a great admirer of the North American Republic, -praises the Latin vigour, as he sees it in -Buenos-Ayres, Uruguay, and Rio de Janeiro. The Yankee -republic has realised the prophecies of the former -critic, and it would not be strange if the southern -democracies of America were to confirm the optimism -of the latter. A new energy, undeniable material -progress, and a fertile creative faith announce the -advent, in the new continent, if not of the Eldorado -of which the hungry emigrant dreams, at least of -wealthy nations, rich in industry and agriculture; -the advent of a world in which the glorious age of -the exhausted Latin world may renew itself, as in -the classic fountain. When Emerson visited England -fifty years ago he declared that the heart of the -Britannic race was in the United States, and that -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P395"></a>395}</span> -the "mother island," exhausted, would some day, -like many parents, be satisfied with the vigour which -she had bestowed upon her own children.[<a id="chap08fn2text"></a><a href="#chap08fn2">2</a>] In -speaking of Spain and Portugal, might not Argentines, -Brazilians, and Chilians employ the same proud -language? -</p> - -<p> -The decadence of the Latins, which seems obvious -to the sociologist, may really be only a long period -of abeyance. The adventures in which such an -exuberant force of heroism was expended might well -result in a reaction, a weariness after creation. -At the beginning of the modern period, in the -sixteenth century, the English, undisciplined adventurers, -were hostile to the regularity and monotony of -industrial life; in the nineteenth century they built an -empire, organised a powerful industrialism, and -became slow and methodical; and in 1894 Dr. Karl -Pearson was uneasy as to "the decadence of British -energy which is revealed by the adoption of State -socialism and by the poverty of mechanical invention."[<a id="chap08fn3text"></a><a href="#chap08fn3">3</a>] -</p> - -<p> -In the future the Latins may regain their old -virility. The <i>ricorsi</i> which Vico saw in history cause -certain peoples to recover the pre-eminence they have -lost, while others, prosperous nations, fall back into -decadence; no privilege is eternal, no reaction is -irremediable and inevitable. -</p> - -<p class="poem"> - "Multa renascentur quæ jam cecidere, cadentque<br /> - Quæ nunc sunt in honore...."<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The imperial policy of Charles V. and Philip II., -the conquest of a continent by the Spaniards, -Portuguese, and French, the glorious festival of the -Renaissance, the triumph of Lepanto, the splendid -empire of Venice, the political activity of Richelieu, -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P396"></a>396}</span> -the great century of French classicism, the -Revolution which proclaimed the Rights of Man, and the -Napoleonic epic, the liberation of Spanish America: -this is the hymn of glory of the Latin race. To-day -Belgium, Italy, and the Argentine give signs of a -renaissance of that race, which men have supposed to -be exhausted. -</p> - -<p> -Heirs of the Latin spirit in the moral, religious, and -political domain, the Ibero-American peoples are -seeking to conserve their glorious heritage. The -idea of race, in the sense of traditions and culture, is -predominant in modern politics. Flourishing on -every hand, we see Pan-Slavism, Pan-Islamism, -Pan-Asianism, Pan-Germanism, Pan-Latinism—barbarous -words which give an indication as to the struggles -of the future. The Slavs of Dalmatia, Germany, -Servia, and Bosnia would reconstitute, with the -fragments of many divided nations, a State which would -also be a race. Islam unites divers peoples by the -ardour of a new fanaticism, under the inspiration of -popular Khalifs or marabouts, from Soudan to Fez, -from Bombay to Stamboul. Vast unions of scattered -peoples are thus springing into formation, in the -name of a religion or a common origin. Slavs, -Saxons, Latins, and Mongols are contending for the -possession of the world. It is thus that the drama -of history becomes simplified; above the quarrels of -precarious nations are rising the profound -antagonisms of millennial races. -</p> - -<p> -Onésime Reclus, in an excellent volume, the -<i>Partage du monde</i>, has gone into the respective -positions of each of these powerful groups. The -conclusions of his analysis are full of hope; in spite of -the Saxons and Slavs the Latins still hold vast -territories, which they must people. Their geographical -position, despite Anglo-Saxon imperialism and the -immense surface of all the Russias of Europe and -Asia, is certainly not inferior. -</p> - -<p> -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P397"></a>397}</span> -</p> - -<p> -There are a hundred million Slavs scattered over -an immense Asiatic and European territory, which -stretches from Vladivostock to the Baltic Sea; two -and a half milliards of hectares are waiting for the -children of this prodigious race. By uniting the -peoples of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, -Holland, and Switzerland to the Germans of Austria, -the German race, whether it propagates the gospel -of Pan-Germanism by commercial penetration or by -violence, possesses about 100 million hectares for -93 millions of men. The Anglo-Saxons, the natural -enemies of German expansion, the rivals of the -<i>Deutschtum</i> in Asia, Africa, and America, rule an -almost unlimited area of milliards of hectares; India, -Canada, the United States, South Africa, Egypt, -Australia, conquered territories and kingdoms held -in tutelage, peoples of all faiths and all races. More -than 200 millions of Anglo-Saxons people this -"greater Britain" without including India, which is -not assimilable. -</p> - -<p> -The territory occupied by the Latin peoples in -Europe, America, and Africa is 3.9 million hectares, -inhabited by 250 millions of men; the number of -Latins is thus not really inferior to that of the -Anglo-Saxons, nor are the territories open to Latin expansion -inferior to those reserved for the rival race. With -the French colonies in Asia they amount to 4 milliards -of hectares. -</p> - -<p> -Here we have a Latin superiority; by the extent -of their territories and their numbers the Latins -outnumber the Slavs and the Germans. They do not -yield to the English either in human capital nor -in wealth of exploitable territory. And England has -reached the zenith of her industrial period, the -maximum of her political development; the figures of -the birth-rate in the industrial towns are diminishing, -and emigration has almost ceased. The State is -becoming the protector of a demagogic and decadent -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P398"></a>398}</span> -crowd. The United States seek to conquer new -territories for their imperialist race. But the Latins -possess in South America a rich and almost -uninhabited continent, and in the north of Africa the -French are in process of founding a colonial empire -which will rival Egypt in wealth and importance, and -will reach from Morocco to the Congo and from -Dakar to Tunis. -</p> - -<p> -Reclus calculates that Latin America could feed a -hundred persons per square kilometre. While the -natality of the Anglo-Saxon cities of the Atlantic -seaboard in the United States remains stationary the -Latin American population is increasing prodigiously; -it is to-day 80 millions, and a century ago, when -Humboldt visited the New World, it was approximately -only 15 millions. It is possible that by the -last years of the present century the number of South -Americans will have reached 250 millions; the -equilibrium between Latins and Anglo-Saxons will -then be broken in favour of the former. -</p> - -<p> -America is thus an essential factor of the future -of the Latin nations. The destiny of France, Spain, -Portugal, and Italy would be different if the 80 -millions of Latin Americans were to lose their racial -traditions; if in a century or two America were to -pass under the sceptre of the United States, or if -the Germans and Anglo-Saxons were to attack -and oppress the nucleus of civilisation formed -by the Argentine, Uruguay, and Southern Brazil. -Economically America would lose markets; -intellectually, docile colonies; practically, centres of -expansion. To-day Anglo-Saxons, Germans, Slavs, and -Neo-Latins are balancing forces which may develop -in harmony in the framework of Christian civilisation -without wars of conquest and without ambitions -of monopoly. The moral unity of South America -would contribute to the realisation of such an ideal. -A new Anglo-Saxon continent running from Alaska -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P399"></a>399}</span> -to Cape Horn, built on the ruins of twenty Spanish -republics, would be the presage of a final decadence. -In the struggles of hundreds of years' duration -between the Latin States and the barbarians, between -Catholicism and Protestantism, between the French -genius and the Teutonic spirit, between the -Renaissance and the Reformation, the Latins would have -lost the last battle. -</p> - -<p> -America is a laboratory of free peoples. Dr. Charles -W. Eliott, rector of the great University of -Harvard, has studied the contribution of the United -States to modern civilisation. Arbitration as a -universal principle, toleration, universal suffrage, -material well-being, and political liberty seem to him -to be the characteristics of North American culture. -In the Latin South we encounter similar principles. -Arbitration is the basis of international relations; -tolerance from the religious point of view is in -process of development. Political liberty is still more -a matter of Constitutions than of custom; but the -liberal political charters, adapted to the principles -of modern civilisation, are the ideal of these republics. -When the wilderness is peopled by new races, -democracies will grow to maturity within this -scaffolding, and universal suffrage, individual rights -and tolerance will be realities. -</p> - -<p> -In Latin America, above all among the southern -nations, one cannot conceive of the restoration of the -old social order, or of despotism and religious -inquisition. The new continent, whether Saxon or Latin, -is democratic and liberal. -</p> - -<p> -If as in the time of the Holy Alliance the theocratic -peoples were to ally themselves—Catholic and warlike -Austria, Germany, dominated by Prussian feudalism, -Russia, mystic and formidable—the whole American -continent would be the bulwark of liberty. If -Germans and Latins or Latins and Anglo-Saxtons -were to fight between themselves the overseas -<span class="pagenum">{<a id="P400"></a>400}</span> -democracies would greatly contribute to the vitality of -the Latin race. If in a Europe dominated by Slavs -and Germans the peoples of the Mediterranean were -forced to withdraw in painful exodus towards the -blue sea peopled by the Greek islands and symbols -old as the world, it is probable that the ancient myth -would be realised anew, and that the torch which -bears the ideal of Latin civilisation would pass from -Paris to Buenos-Ayres or Rio de Janeiro, as it passed -from Rome to Paris in the modern epoch, or from -Greece to Rome in the classic period. America, -to-day desert and divided, would save the culture of -France and Italy, the heritage of the Revolution and -the Renaissance, and would thus have justified to the -utmost the fortunate audacity of Christopher -Columbus. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap08fn1"></a> -[<a href="#chap08fn1text">1</a>] <i>Essai sur le gouvernement de la Nouvelle Espagne</i>, vol. i. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap08fn2"></a> -[<a href="#chap08fn2text">2</a>] <i>Works</i>, vol. ii. p. 160. -</p> - -<p class="footnote"> -<a id="chap08fn3"></a> -[<a href="#chap08fn3text">3</a>] <i>National Life and Character</i>, pp. 102 <i>et seq</i>. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="index"></a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum">{<a id="P401"></a>401}</span></p> - -<h3> -INDEX -</h3> - -<p class="t3"> -<i>Names in italics are those of literary men, philosophers, &c.</i> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -A.B.C., the (federation), <a href="#P348">348-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Aberdeen, Lord, <a href="#P64">64</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Absolutism, <a href="#P51">51</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Acosta</i>, <a href="#P247">247</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -African elements in Spain, <a href="#P40">40-1</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -African race, <i>see</i> Negroes -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Agriculture, <a href="#P384">384-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Alberdi</i>, <a href="#P236">236</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Alcantara, President of Venezuela, -<a href="#P110">110</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Alva, Duke of, <a href="#P30">30</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -America, Anglo-Saxon, <a href="#P16">16</a>, <i>see</i> -United States -</p> - -<p class="index"> -America, South, the conquest of, -<a href="#P16">16</a>, <a href="#P44">44</a>; early Constitutions, <a href="#P82">82</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Anarchy, military (86-94); leads -to dictatorship, <a href="#P88">88</a>; spontaneity -of, <a href="#P89">89</a>; in Colombia, <a href="#P201">201</a>; in the -tropics, <a href="#P222">222-31</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Andes, San Martin crosses the, -<a href="#P67">67</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Andrade</i>, <a href="#P183">183</a>, <a href="#P256">256-7</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Antilles, the, <a href="#P222">222</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Arabs in Spain, <a href="#P40">40-1</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Aranda, <a href="#P64">64</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Aranha, Graça</i>, <a href="#P268">268</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Arbitration, Court of, <a href="#P347">347</a>, <a href="#P399">399</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Argentine, the, <a href="#P48">48</a>, <a href="#P77">77-8</a>; first -Constitution of, <a href="#P83">83</a>; <a href="#P92">92</a> (134-46); -revolution in, <a href="#P134">134</a>; early -Constitutions, <a href="#P134">134</a>; federation of, -<a href="#P135">135</a>; democracy in, <a href="#P135">135</a>; -Constitution of 1826, <a href="#P137">137-8</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Artigas, <a href="#P89">89</a>, <a href="#P127">127</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Autocracy, follows revolution, <a href="#P88">88</a>, -<a href="#P93">93</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Avellanada</i>, <a href="#P255">255</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Ayacucho, <a href="#P71">71</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Ayagarray</i>, <a href="#P307">307</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Aztecs, the, <a href="#P47">47</a>, <a href="#P53">53</a>, <a href="#P149">149</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>BALMES</i>, <a href="#P274">274</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Balmaceda, President of Chili, -<a href="#P170">170-8</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Barreto</i>, <a href="#P273">273</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Basques in S. America, <a href="#P364">364</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Belgrano, <a href="#P61">61</a>, <a href="#P66">66</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Bello</i>, <a href="#P246">246</a>, <a href="#P251">251-2</a>, <a href="#P272">272</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Bentham</i>, <a href="#P245">245</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Bilbao</i>, <a href="#P236">236-7</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Blanco-Encalada, <a href="#P125">125</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Bolivar, <a href="#P61">61</a>, <a href="#P63">63-9</a>; youth of, <a href="#P70">70</a>; -as general, <a href="#P71">71</a>; President, <a href="#P71">71</a>; -downfall of, <a href="#P72">72</a>; character and -principles, <a href="#P72">72-80</a>, <a href="#P81">81-3</a>, <a href="#P102">102</a>, -<a href="#P113">113</a>, <a href="#P122">122-3</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Bolivia, <a href="#P80">80</a>, <a href="#P122">122-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Bonaparte, <a href="#P88">88</a>, <a href="#P91">91</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Bourget, Paul</i>, <a href="#P15">15</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Boyer, President of Hayti, <a href="#P229">229</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Brazil (180-90); revolution in, -<a href="#P180">180</a>; slavery abolished, <a href="#P189">189</a>; -revolution in, <a href="#P189">189</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Buenos Ayres, <a href="#P65">65</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Bunge, C. O.</i>, <a href="#P279">279</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Bustamente, <a href="#P150">150-1</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Bureaucracy, <a href="#P376">376-7</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -CABILDO, the, <a href="#P98">98</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -California, Japanese in, <a href="#P326">326</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Canning, <a href="#P393">393-4</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Canovas, <a href="#P314">314</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Carabobo, <a href="#P76">76</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Caracas, Congress of, <a href="#P348">348</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Caro</i>, <a href="#P253">253-4</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Carrera (Guatemalan), <a href="#P224">224</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Casimiro-Ulloa, <a href="#P117">117</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Castes, inimical, <a href="#P91">91</a>, <a href="#P370">370</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Castillo, <a href="#P115">115-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Castro, General, <a href="#P105">105</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Catholicism in S. America, <a href="#P286">286</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Caudillos, the, <a href="#P16">16</a>, <a href="#P89">89</a>, <a href="#P94">94-5</a>, <a href="#P365">365-70</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Central America, <a href="#P83">83</a>, <a href="#P222">222-6</a>; -confederation of, <a href="#P347">347</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Chamberlain, Mr., <a href="#P346">346</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Charrua Indians, <a href="#P131">131</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Chibcha Indians, <a href="#P47">47</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Chili, <a href="#P48">48</a>, <a href="#P92">92</a>, <a href="#P104">104</a> (164-79); social -revolution in, <a href="#P178">178</a>, <a href="#P342">342</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Chivalry, literature of, <a href="#P34">34</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Church, the, in the colonies, <a href="#P52">52-3</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Cid, the, <a href="#P34">34</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Cities of Spain, <a href="#P30">30</a>, <a href="#P33">33</a>, <a href="#P38">38</a>, <a href="#P40">40</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Civil wars, <a href="#P371">371</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Clemenceau, M., <a href="#P15">15</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Clergy in Spain, <a href="#P42">42</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Cochrane, Lord, <a href="#P68">68</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Coolidge, Professor</i>, <a href="#P321">321</a>, <a href="#P335">335</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Colombia (201-12); anarchy in, -<a href="#P201">201</a>; parties, <a href="#P202">202-3</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Colonies, the Spanish (44-57); life -in, <a href="#P54">54-7</a>; revolution, <a href="#P58">58</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Commune in Spain, <a href="#P38">38</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Comte</i>, <a href="#P274">274-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Conquest of S. America, <a href="#P16">16</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Conquistadores, the, <a href="#P45">45-8</a>, <a href="#P93">93</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Constitutions of Chili and -Venezuela, <a href="#P82">82</a>; of Bolivia, the -Argentine, and Colombia, <a href="#P83">83</a>; of -Venezuela, <a href="#P103">103</a>; of Chili, <a href="#P104">104</a>; -of Venezuela, <a href="#P105">105</a>; of Colombia, -<a href="#P203">203-4</a>; of Greater Colombia, -<a href="#P204">204</a>; of Ecuador, <a href="#P214">214</a>; of -Central America, <a href="#P233">233</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Convention, the French, <a href="#P88">88</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Cortez, <a href="#P45">45</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Costa-Rica, <a href="#P225">225-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Creole, the, <a href="#P29">29</a>, <a href="#P50">50</a>, <a href="#P59">59</a>, <a href="#P360">360-1</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Cuba (313-22); civil war in, <a href="#P315">315</a>; -purchase mooted, <a href="#P317">317</a>; racial -factors, <a href="#P318">318</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>DARIO, RUBEN</i>, <a href="#P261">261-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Decadence of conquerors, <a href="#P44">44</a>, <a href="#P50">50</a>, <a href="#P85">85</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Democracy in Spain, <a href="#P37">37-40</a>; in -S. America, <a href="#P93">93</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Diaz, G.</i>, <a href="#P255">255-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Diaz, Leopoldo</i>, <a href="#P258">258</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Diaz, President of Mexico, <a href="#P77">77</a>, -<a href="#P155">155-63</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Dictators, the, <a href="#P16">16</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Directory of Buenos Ayres, <a href="#P82">82</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Don Quixote, <a href="#P34">34</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -ECHENIQUE, President of Peru, <a href="#P115">115</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Echeverria</i>, <a href="#P254">254</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Economic Problems (378-86); -loans, <a href="#P379">379</a>, <a href="#P381">381</a>; foreign capital, -<a href="#P383">383</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Ecuador, <a href="#P92">92-3</a> (213-21) -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Encyclopædists, the, <a href="#P65">65</a>, <a href="#P81">81</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -England, policy of, <a href="#P64">64</a>; influence -of, <a href="#P83">83</a>, <a href="#P390">390</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Equalitarianism, <a href="#P63">63</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Estrade, Angel de</i>, <a href="#P268">268</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -FALCON, President of Venezuela, -<a href="#P106">106-7</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Faustinas I. of Hayti, <a href="#P229">229</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Federation, in Spain, <a href="#P35">35</a>; Bolivar's -prophecies of, <a href="#P77">77</a>; <i>see</i> Unity -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Feijó, Diego, <a href="#P184">184-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Feudal system, <a href="#P30">30</a>, <a href="#P38">38</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Flores, Dictator of Uruguay, <a href="#P132">132-3</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Flores, J. J., founder of Ecuador, -<a href="#P87">87</a>, <a href="#P213">213</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Fombona, Blanco</i>, <a href="#P265">265</a>, <a href="#P268">268</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Fouillée</i>, <a href="#P277">277</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>France, Anatole</i>, <a href="#P15">15</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -France, intellectual influence of, -<a href="#P81">81-2</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Francia, Dr., tyrant of Paraguay, -<a href="#P191">191-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Free cities of Spain, <a href="#P30">30</a>, <a href="#P35">35</a>, <a href="#P40">40</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -GARCIA-MORENO, President of -Ecuador, <a href="#P215">215-21</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -German capital, <a href="#P292">292-4</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -German colonists, <a href="#P291">291-7</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -German Emperor, the, <a href="#P323">323</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -German Peril, the, <a href="#P290">290-7</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Gongorism, <a href="#P34">34</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Goths, the, <a href="#P41">41</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Guarani Indians, <a href="#P191">191</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Guatemala, <a href="#P223">223</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Guayaquil, <a href="#P213">213</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Guizot</i>, <a href="#P245">245</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Guyau</i>, <a href="#P278">278</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Guzman-Blanco, Dictator of -Venezuela, <a href="#P101">101</a>, <a href="#P106">106-8</a>; policy of -reconstruction, <a href="#P108">108-10</a>; return to -power, <a href="#P110">110-12</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -HALF-CASTES, <a href="#P93">93</a>, <a href="#P338">338</a>; <i>see</i> Mestizos -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Hawaii, annexation of <a href="#P303">303</a>; -Japanese in, <a href="#P325">325-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Hayti, <a href="#P226">226-31</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Heredity, in the Spanish republics, -<a href="#P97">97</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Hispaniola, <a href="#P226">226</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Hostos, E. de</i>, <a href="#P272">272-3</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Hugo, Victor</i>, <a href="#P261">261</a>, <a href="#P263">263</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Humboldt</i>, <a href="#P50">50</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -IBERIANS, <a href="#P31">31-2</a>, <a href="#P40">40-1</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Ibero-Americans, <a href="#P283">283-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Ideology, political, <a href="#P235">235-48</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Ignatius of Loyola, <a href="#P33">33</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Incas, the, <a href="#P47">47</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Independence, wars of, <a href="#P29">29</a>, <a href="#P58">58-81</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Indians, at conquest, <a href="#P46">46-8</a>, <a href="#P91">91</a>; -distribution of, <a href="#P93">93</a>, <a href="#P352">352-3</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Individualism, in Spain, <a href="#P31">31-5</a>; in -S. America, <a href="#P88">88</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Industrialism, rise of, <a href="#P94">94-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Inquisition, the, <a href="#P42">42</a>, <a href="#P52">52</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Isthmus, States of the, <a href="#P77">77</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Itaborahy, <a href="#P186">186</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Italians in South America, <a href="#P364">364</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico, <a href="#P61">61</a>, -<a href="#P82">82</a>, <a href="#P149">149-50</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -JACOBINISM, <a href="#P81">81</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Japan, <a href="#P393">393</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Japanese Peril (323-31); -emigrants, <a href="#P327">327</a>; spies, <a href="#P329">329</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Jaurès</i>, <a href="#P15">15</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -João VI., <a href="#P180">180-2</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Juarez, Mexican Dictator, <a href="#P152">152-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Junin, 71,76 -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Juntas, <a href="#P30">30</a>; colonial, <a href="#P60">60</a>; -revolutionary, <a href="#P84">84</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -KING, <i>see</i> Monarchy -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -LA PAZ, revolt at, <a href="#P65">65</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -La Plata, confederation of, <a href="#P343">343</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Lamartine</i>, <a href="#P244">244-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Lansdowne, Lord, <a href="#P83">83</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Larreta, E. R.</i>, <a href="#P269">269</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Lastarria</i>, <a href="#P236">236-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Latifundia, <a href="#P92">92</a>, <a href="#P98">98</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Latin race, the, <a href="#P17">17</a>; future of the, -(387-400); decadence of, <a href="#P395">395</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Latin spirit, the, <a href="#P17">17</a>; in S. America, -<a href="#P287">287-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Lavalleja, President of Uruguay, -<a href="#P127">127-9</a>, <a href="#P131">131</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Law, influence of Spanish, <a href="#P54">54</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Lee, Gen. Homer</i>, <a href="#P325">325</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Liberators, the, <a href="#P66">66</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Liniers, <a href="#P65">65</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Literature, <a href="#P249">249-70</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Lodges, revolutionary, <a href="#P65">65-81</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Lopez, Argentine <i>caudillo</i>, <a href="#P89">89</a>, <a href="#P139">139</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Lopez, tyrants of Paraguay, <a href="#P196">196</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Loyola, <a href="#P33">33</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Lugones</i>, <a href="#P265">265</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -MAIA, J. J. de, <a href="#P82">82</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -"Maine," sinking of the, <a href="#P315">315</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Marmol</i>, <a href="#P254">254-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Marti, <a href="#P315">315</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, -<a href="#P154">154-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Mestizos, <a href="#P103">103</a>, <a href="#P356">356-60</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Mexico, <a href="#P48">48</a>; first Constitution of, -<a href="#P83">83</a>, <a href="#P92">92-3</a> (149-63); intervention -of the French, <a href="#P153">153</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Militarism, <a href="#P86">86-94</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Mill, James</i>, <a href="#P272">272</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Mill, J. S.</i>, <a href="#P274">274-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Miranda, <a href="#P66">66</a>, <a href="#P81">81</a>, <a href="#P83">83</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Miscegenation, <a href="#P48">48-50</a>; in Peru, -<a href="#P194">194</a>; <i>see</i> Indians, Mestizos, Negro, -Race -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Monagas, J. T. and J. G., -Presidents of Venezuela, <a href="#P103">103-5</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Monagas, J. R., President of -Venezuela, <a href="#P107">107</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Monarchy in Spain, <a href="#P35">35-8</a>; its -relations at time of revolution with -the revolted colonies, <a href="#P60">60-1</a>, <a href="#P63">63</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Monks, <a href="#P52">52-3</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Monopoly, <a href="#P51">51-2</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Monroe Doctrine, <a href="#P290">290-1</a>, <a href="#P302">302-4</a>, -<a href="#P392">392</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Montalvo</i>, <a href="#P239">239-40</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Montezuma, <a href="#P48">48</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Montt, President of Chili, <a href="#P168">168-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Mosquera, President of Colombia -<a href="#P206">206-7</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Münsterberg, Professor</i>, <a href="#P294">294</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Mystics of Spain, <a href="#P33">33</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>NABUCO, J.</i>, <a href="#P274">274</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Nationality, early phases of, <a href="#P84">84</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Negroes, first introduction of, <a href="#P49">49</a>, -<a href="#P50">50</a>; distribution of, <a href="#P53">53</a>, <a href="#P355">355-6</a>, -<a href="#P358">358-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Nervo, A.</i>, <a href="#P265">265</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -New Granada, <a href="#P77">77</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Nietzsche</i>, <a href="#P278">278</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -North American Peril, <a href="#P298">298-312</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Nuñez, Rafael, President of -Colombia, <a href="#P201">201</a>, <a href="#P206">206-11</a>, <a href="#P276">276</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>OLMEDO</i>, <a href="#P251">251</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Olney, Secretary, <a href="#P300">300</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Orbegoso, <a href="#P123">123</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Ordoñez, President of Uruguay, -<a href="#P132">132</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Oribe, President of Uruguay, <a href="#P129">129</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -PACIFIC, Confederation of the, <a href="#P343">343</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Paez, President of Venezuela, <a href="#P61">61</a>, -<a href="#P87">87</a>, <a href="#P91">91</a>, <a href="#P101">101-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Palma, R.</i>, <a href="#P267">267</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Panama, <a href="#P303">303</a>; the Canal, <a href="#P387">387-8</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Pando, <a href="#P126">126</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Paraguay, <a href="#P191">191-7</a>; the great war in, -<a href="#P196">196-7</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Pardo, Felipe</i>, <a href="#P252">252</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Pardo, President of Peru, <a href="#P117">117-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Paz, <a href="#P140">140</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Pearson, Karl</i>, <a href="#P362">362</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Pedro, Dom, I., <a href="#P182">182</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Pedro, Dom, II., <a href="#P185">185-6</a>, <a href="#P188">188</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Pelucones, <a href="#P92">92</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Peru, <a href="#P68">68</a>, <a href="#P70">70-1</a>; first Constitution, -<a href="#P82">82</a>; <a href="#P92">92-3</a> (113-121); War of -Independence, <a href="#P113">113</a>, <a href="#P342">342</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Philosophy, <a href="#P271">271-80</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Picaro, the, in literature, <a href="#P34">34</a>, <a href="#P43">43</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Pierola, President of Peru, <a href="#P120">120</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Pitt, <a href="#P83">83</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Plutocracy, rise of, <a href="#P94">94</a>; future -of, <a href="#P97">97</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Poincaré, R., <a href="#P14">14</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Political conflict, the, <a href="#P92">92</a>; -problems, <a href="#P365">365-77</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Popham, Sir Home, <a href="#P65">65</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Portales, President of Chili, <a href="#P118">118</a>, -<a href="#P124">124</a>, <a href="#P165">165-8</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Porto Rico, <a href="#P303">303</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Portuguese in S. America, <a href="#P45">45-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Posadas, <a href="#P61">61</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>QUINTANA</i>, <a href="#P250">250</a>, <a href="#P252">252</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Quiroga, General, <a href="#P139">139-40</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Quito, <a href="#P65">65</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -RACE, problems of, <a href="#P283">283-9</a>, <a href="#P351">351-64</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Regenerators, the, <a href="#P87">87</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Renaissance, the, <a href="#P45">45</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Republics, early S. American, <a href="#P39">39</a>, -<a href="#P61">61</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Revolutions, <a href="#P65">65-81</a>; ideology of, -<a href="#P81">81-5</a>; <a href="#P94">94</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Reyles, Carlos</i>, <a href="#P206">206-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Rio Branco, <a href="#P187">187</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Rivadavia, Dictator of the -Argentine, <a href="#P135">135-8</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Rivera, President of Uruguay, -<a href="#P127">127-30</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Rocafuerte, President of Ecuador, -<a href="#P214">214</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Rodo, J. E.</i>, <a href="#P133">133</a>, <a href="#P264">264</a>, <a href="#P266">266</a>, <a href="#P274">274</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Rome, in Spain, <a href="#P33">33</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Roosevelt, Theodore, <a href="#P304">304</a>, <a href="#P318">318</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Root, Secretary, <a href="#P300">300</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Rosas, Argentine tyrant, <a href="#P139">139-46</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Rousseau, J. J.</i>, influence of, <a href="#P81">81</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>SALAVERRY</i>, <a href="#P123">123-4</a>, <a href="#P254">254</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Salisbury, Lord, <a href="#P300">300</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Salvador, <a href="#P223">223</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -San Domingo, <a href="#P226">226-31</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -San Martin, Protector of Peru, -crosses the Andes, <a href="#P67">67</a>, <a href="#P68">68-9</a>, -<a href="#P72">72</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>San Martin, Zorilla</i>, <a href="#P256">256</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Sancho Panza, <a href="#P53">53</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Santa-Ana, President of Mexico, -<a href="#P150">150-1</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Santa-Cruz, President of Bolivia, -<a href="#P87">87</a>, <a href="#P114">114</a>, <a href="#P125">125</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Santana, Dictator of San Domingo, -<a href="#P230">230</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Santander, President of Colombia, -<a href="#P87">87</a>, <a href="#P205">205</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Sarmiento</i>, <a href="#P242">242-3</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Sierra, the, <a href="#P91">91-2</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Silva, J. A.</i>, <a href="#P265">265</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Slavery, <a href="#P104">104</a>; abolished in Brazil, -<a href="#P189">189</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Slavs, the, <a href="#P394">394-5</a>, <a href="#P397">397</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Soublette, <a href="#P103">103</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Spain, early history of, <a href="#P30">30-43</a>; -religion in, <a href="#P33">33</a>; laws of, in -S. America, <a href="#P285">285</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Spencer, Herbert</i>, <a href="#P86">86</a>, <a href="#P274">274-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Stoicism, <a href="#P33">33</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Sucre, <a href="#P70">70-1</a>, <a href="#P213">213</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -TAFT, President, <a href="#P320">320</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Tammany Hall, <a href="#P301">301</a>, <a href="#P320">320</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Teresa, Saint, <a href="#P33">33</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Territorial overlords, <a href="#P97">97-8</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -"Thirty-three, the," <a href="#P128">128</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Toussaint Louverture, <a href="#P228">228-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Trade, future of, <a href="#P388">388-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Tyranny, advantages of, <a href="#P96">96</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>UGARTE, MANUEL</i>, <a href="#P266">266</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -United States, supremacy of, <a href="#P299">299</a> -intervention in South and -Central America, <a href="#P303">303-4</a>; race -troubles in, <a href="#P308">308</a>, <a href="#P311">311</a>; future -influence of, <a href="#P390">390-1</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Unity, problems of, <a href="#P335">335-50</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Urbina, President of Ecuador, 215! -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Uruguay, <a href="#P127">127-33</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -VALENCIA, Convention of, <a href="#P105">105</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Varas, <a href="#P168">168</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Vargas, Dr., President of Venezuela, <a href="#P102">102</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Velasco, <a href="#P125">125-6</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Venezuela, <a href="#P82">82</a>, <a href="#P92">92-3</a>, <a href="#P101">101-3</a>; civil -war in, <a href="#P106">106</a>; revolution of 1870, -<a href="#P108">108</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Verlaine</i>, <a href="#P263">263</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Viceroys, the, <a href="#P51">51</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Vivanco</i>, <a href="#P115">115</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -<i>Voltaire</i>, <a href="#P81">81</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -WASHINGTON, <a href="#P82">82</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Weyler, <a href="#P315">315</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Wood, General, <a href="#P318">318-9</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -YEGROS, Consul of Paraguay, <a href="#P192">192</a> -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="index"> -ZALDUA, DR., President of -Colombia, <a href="#P211">211</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Zambos, <a href="#P358">358-9</a> -</p> - -<p class="index"> -Zollverein, <a href="#P305">305-6</a>, <a href="#P346">346</a>, <a href="#P349">349</a> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<p class="t3"> - The Gresham Press<br /> - UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED,<br /> - WOKING AND LONDON<br /> -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<p><a id="chap10"></a></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -THE SOUTH AMERICAN SERIES. -</p> - -<p class="t3"> -Demy 8vo, Cloth. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. 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Illustrated by a -large number of excellent photographs."—<i>Times</i>. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. III.—MEXICO. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -By C. REGINALD ENOCK, F.R.G.S. With an Introduction by -MARTIN HUME, a Map, and 64 full-page Illustrations. -</p> - -<p> -"Mr. Enock unites to a terse and vivid literary -style the commercial instinct and -trained observation of a shrewd man of -affairs."—<i>Aberdeen Free Press</i>. -</p> - -<p> -"Mr. Enock transmutes the hard material -of ancient chronicles into gleaming -romance; he describes scenery with a poet's skill. -Full of charm he makes his -pages, alluring as a fairy tale, -an epic stirring and virile."—<i>Manchester City News</i>. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. IV.—ARGENTINA. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -By W. A. HIRST. With an Introduction by MARTIN HUME, a -Map, and 64 Illustrations. -</p> - -<p> -"The best and most comprehensive of recent works -on the greatest and most -progressive of the Republics of South -America."—<i>Manchester Guardian</i>. -</p> - -<p> -"In the treatment of both the main divisions -of a complex theme, the historical -and descriptive, Mr. Hirst shows judgment and skill -that are decidedly rare.... -Mr. Hirst's exceedingly able and -interesting book."—<i>Westminster Gazette</i>. -</p> - -<p> -"A very interesting and trustworthy survey -of the present conditions and -prospects of the country."—<i>Times</i>. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. V.—BRAZIL. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -By PIERRE DENIS. With Historical Chapter by BERNARD MIALL, -a Map, and 36 Illustrations. -</p> - -<p> -"It is a mine of information, arranged with all -the lucidity of a Frenchman; and -in one case, in the long chapter devoted to the -valorization of coffee, the treatment -deserves to be called masterly."—<i>Globe</i>. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. VI.—URUGUAY. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -By W. H. KOEBEL. With a Map and 55 Illustrations. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. VII.—GUIANA: BRITISH, FRENCH, AND DUTCH. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -By JAMES RODWAY. With a Map and 36 Illustrations. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. VIII.—VENEZUELA. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -By LEONARD DALTON, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. With a Map and -34 Illustrations. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. IX.—LATIN AMERICA: ITS RISE AND PROGRESS. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -By F. GARCIA CALDERON. With a Preface by RAYMOND -POINCARÉ, Prime Minister of France, a Map, and 34 Illustrations. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p class="t3b"> -VOL. X.—COLOMBIA. -</p> - -<p class="noindent"> -By P. J. EDER. With 2 Maps and 40 Illustrations. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Latin America: Its Rise and Progress, by -F. 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