A Five Years' Residence in Buenos Ayres, During the years 1820 to 1825: Containing Remarks on the Country and Inhabitants; and a Visit to Colonia Del SacramentoLove, George Thomas
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A Five Years' Residence in Buenos Ayres, During the years 1820 to 1825: Containing Remarks on the Country and Inhabitants; and a Visit to Colonia Del Sacramento
Love, George Thomas
Buenos Aires (Argentina) -- Description and travel; Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay) -- Description and travel
Common report asserts, that a strong French faction exists in Buenos
Ayres. I will not pretend to offer an opinion upon this. Three years
ago, I thought there was a decided leaning towards France: but I do not
think there is so much now. If it were only for the sake of consistency,
they must be ashamed of French politics, and the war in Spain,
undertaken, as "an experiment to try the fidelity of the French army,"
according to Monsieur Chateaubriand, who asserted that a few months
campaigning had done more good for France than years of peace. That a
portion of the inhabitants may be attached to the French, is probable;
their manners and religion assimilate more than ours. An Englishman
is looked upon as a strange creature, different from the rest of the
world. Other nations have not that characteristic of country (excepting
the North Americans): a Frenchman, Italian, &c. mixes in the crowd as
one of the country in which he resides, and is scarcely recognized as a
foreigner; but nature seems to have placed her peculiar mark upon us,
and, in conjunction with our law against expatriation, seems to assert,
that "once an Englishman, always an Englishman." It would appear that
strangers can almost discover us blindfold: often, on the darkest night,
I have been accosted by boys and others as an Englishman.
The old Spanish part of the population, I dare say, dislike, and can
never forgive us; we are ever the subject of their sneering remarks, and
must expect to be so. That we can act from principles of pure honour,
appears to them impossible; and they affect to trace self-interest at
the bottom of all our professions, particularly as to the proceedings
of the British government toward South America, which have gained us so
much popularity with those states; and given British politics the lead,
which indeed never stood more high in Buenos Ayres than at the present
moment.
Englishmen are aware that very few like them as a nation, however they
may respect them as individuals; and should our country be once on the
wane, there would be plenty of helping hands to press us further down.
It requires no extraordinary sagacity to account for this animosity.
I am certain, however, we have numerous friends in Buenos Ayres. The
rising generation have, in a manner, grown up with us. Time will wear
away antiquated prejudices, and it will be seen that the calumnies which
have been heaped upon our nation for ages, have not been deserved. Many
fine young Englishmen reside in Buenos Ayres in mercantile and other
employments: this portion associate a great deal with the inhabitants,
with whom they have formed a perfect intimacy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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