Observations on the Present State of the Affairs of the River PlateBaines, Thomas
History
Observations on the Present State of the Affairs of the River Plate
Baines, Thomas
Argentina; Argentina -- Foreign relations -- Uruguay; International relations; Uruguay; Uruguay -- Foreign relations -- Argentina
Of this large number of emigrants, 13,676, it will be seen, were from
the Basque provinces; 696 from France; 3806 from Spain; 6789 from Genoa;
5152 from the Canary Islands; 2247 from Portugal and Brazil, and 1241
from other parts of the world. If, as has been said by one of our
greatest writers, there is no worse sign of the condition of a country
than the fact of large masses of its subjects leaving it, surely it must
be considered an equally strong proof of the goodness of a Government
and the resources of a country when great masses of foreign emigrants
are pouring into it. In this respect, Monte Video stands pre-eminent
above all the States of America, except those founded by the British
race, and considering the limited extent of its territory, and the short
period of its independent existence, it can scarcely be said to yield to
them.
Having thus shown the grounds on which the Government and people of
Monte Video are entitled to the sympathies and support of England, I
shall now proceed to say a few words on the present disastrous position
of the affairs of that Republic.
For the last two years, the city of Monte Video has been besieged by an
army composed almost entirely of Buenos Ayrean troops, commanded by
General Manuel Oribe, the expatriated President of Uruguay, who claims
to be the legal President of the Republic, and whose avowed object is to
overturn the present Government, and to seize on supreme power for
himself, and blockaded by sea by a Buenos Ayrean squadron, commanded by
William Brown, a British subject in the pay of General Rosas. If the
army of General Oribe was composed of Monte Videans, England could have
nothing to say in this matter, as his success would be merely the
substitution of the chief of one native party for another; but this is
not the case. Oribe has neither army, fleet, nor treasures of his own,
and owes every thing to General Rosas as absolutely as if he was a
Buenos Ayrean citizen. To allow him, therefore, to get and to retain
possession of Monte Video, would be to establish the authority of Buenos
Ayres on the east bank of the river as effectually as on the west, and
this I have already shown would be most injurious to the interests of
England, of Brazil, and the other adjoining States, as well as to Monte
Video itself, and to the upper States of the Argentine confederation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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