Produced by Adrian Mastronardi and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Story of the Nations A Series of Historical Studies intended to present in graphic narratives the stories of the different nations that have attained prominence in history. In the story form the current of each national life is distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy periods and episodes are presented for the reader in their philosophical relations to each other as well as to universal history. 12º, Illustrated, cloth, each net $1.50 FOR FULL LIST SEE END OF THIS VOLUME. [Illustration: CAPE HORN. _Frontispiece_ [From a steel engraving.]] THE STORY OF THE NATIONS THE SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS BY THOMAS C. DAWSON Secretary of the United States Legation to Brazil IN TWO PARTS _PART I_ ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, BRAZIL G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press COPYRIGHT 1903 BY THOMAS C. DAWSON Eighth Printing The Knickerbocker Press, New York TO MY WIFE I DEDICATE THIS STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF HER NATIVE CONTINENT PREFACE The question most frequently asked me since I began my stay in South America has been: "Why do they have so many revolutions there?" Possibly the events recounted in the following pages may help the reader to answer this for himself. I hope that he will share my conviction that militarism has already definitely disappeared from more than half the continent and is slowly becoming less powerful in the remainder. Constitutional traditions, inherited from Spain and Portugal, implanted a tendency toward disintegration; Spanish and Portuguese tyranny bred in the people a distrust of all rulers and governments; the war of independence brought to the front military adventurers; civil disorders were inevitable, and the search for forms of government that should be final and stable has been very painful. On the other hand, the generous impulse that prompted the movement toward independence has grown into an earnest desire for ordered liberty, which is steadily spreading among all classes. Civic capacity is increasing among the body of South Americans and immigration is raising the industrial level. They are slowly evolving among themselves the best form of government for their special needs and conditions, and a citizen of the United States must rejoice to see that that form is and will surely remain republican.