Kitabı oku: «Spanish and Portuguese South America during the Colonial Period; Vol. 2», sayfa 18
Many rivers enter the sea in this captaincy, some of which are navigable for a considerable way, and the banks of all of which are more or less peopled. The most important of these is the Itapacura, the territory between which and the Paraïba was in great part peopled by a population of European blood or by domesticated Indians, by means of whom large quantities of rice and cotton were raised.
Although the course of the Tocantins was well known in Goyaz and Pará, it was not until the year 1798 that an attempt was made to trace its connection to Maranham, for the purpose of opening up a communication by water between the two provinces in which it respectively rises and ends. But although the effort of the Government failed, the communication was established by means of a runaway Indian, who had made his way in a canoe bound for Goyaz. A settler named Barros, into whose territory the Indian penetrated, then built a canoe on which he embarked with the Indian and three slaves upon the river Manoel Alves Grande; this stream in a day and a half carried them into the Tocantins, on which in due time they met a vessel from Pará. After this successful expedition, Barros was employed in opening up a communication along this important route. Throughout Maranham the cultivation of cotton had, for the most part, superseded that of the sugar-cane. The captaincy produces an abundance of fruit of the finest quality. The navigation of the coast of Brazil is so difficult, on account of both wind and current setting in at certain seasons from the south, that it was easier for Pará and Maranham to communicate with Portugal than with Bahia or Rio de Janeiro; for which reason the bishops of Pará and S. Luiz were suffragans of the Patriarch of Lisbon.
Maranham, Pernambuco, Bahia, and Minas Geraes all looked chiefly to Piauhy for their cattle. That country was explored and conquered, not for the sake of its mines and slaves, but on account of its pastures, on which cattle increased to an enormous extent, the mode of life being similar to that on the Pampas of the Plata. The difficulty of utilizing these herds lay in transporting them to the market over the waterless tracts that intervened. By means, however, of tanks this difficulty was overcome.
It is unnecessary to go over the whole extent of Brazil, but one or two instances may be given, showing the progress which it had already made at the beginning of this century. When the Dutch possessed Paraïba, that captaincy contained seven hundred families and twenty engenhos; in the year 1775 its population was estimated at fifty-two thousand—a population which was more than doubled in the course of another quarter of a century.
Pernambuco was, in the early part of this century, one of the most nourishing parts of this great colonial empire; and its chief port, Recife, was only inferior in importance to Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. It contained about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. No other city had derived such benefit from the growth of the cotton trade. It seems to have been a favourite place of resort with the religious Orders; the Fathers of the Oratory, the Franciscans, and the Carmelites had each a convent; whilst the Italian Capuchins and the Almoners of the Holy Land had each a hospice. There was likewise a Recolimento and a hospital for lepers. The Governor resided in what had been the Jesuits’ College. Although people of Portuguese race are perhaps the most temperate in the world, excepting Mahommedans and some other Asiatics, the water-drinkers of Recife were dependent for that element on canoes, by which it was conveyed from the Capivaribe or the Beberibe—there being no aqueduct. The neighbouring city of Olinda well maintained the reputation from which it takes its name.
In the agricultural or cattle-breeding districts in the interior of Brazil the mode of life was primitive; but, owing to the influence of commerce at the ports, it was somewhat more civilized than in La Plata or Paraguay at the same period. Water was served in houses of all classes for ablution before and after meals. It was the general custom to sit on the ground. Knives and forks were superfluities, as were beds, which were replaced by hammocks. The dress of the drover when away from home was somewhat elaborate, as is that of the Pampas gaucho. The home dress of the women was exceedingly simple; nor was their costume luxurious abroad. The cattle were so numerous that the population ate animal food three times a day, taking with it a cake made of mandioc or of rice. Wild fruits were so abundant that none were cultivated save water-melons. It is stated that the scattered population, in these thinly-peopled districts, were indebted for their civilization to a considerable extent to pedlars. These itinerant dealers supplied the farmers and their families with almost every imaginable commodity, including calico, earthenware, rum, tobacco, horsegear, and Irish butter. They usually received payment in the shape of some other commodity.
In the thinly-peopled districts parishes were of enormous extent. Sometimes one could not find a church within eighty or one hundred miles; and this state of things gave rise to a class of itinerant priests, who travelled about carrying a portable altar and its appurtenances in a pack-saddle. These travelling ecclesiastics were furnished with licenses from a bishop, and were assisted at mass by the boy who drove the pack-horse. As laws were but indifferently observed in the Sertam, and murders were frequent, the services of the priest were often required for absolution. Wherever a customer willing to pay could be found, the altar was erected, and the service took place. These priests could likewise perform the ceremonies of marriage and of baptism.
Although rural crime was still frequent, it had decreased towards the end of last century. There had existed a set of bravos who used to frequent fairs for the purpose of provoking quarrels, and who were a constant source of very real danger; but so many of these gentry had come to their deserved end that bucolic life was now much more secure. There was at one time, likewise, a custom to parade certain towns at night, the strollers being cloaked and masked, and in this guise committing any pranks which occurred to them. This habit, too, was put down.
The large number of ports in Pernambuco gave that province the inestimable advantage of a ready means of export for the produce of the interior. Its richest and most influential inhabitants, whether agricultural or commercial, were those most interested in the preservation of order. They were the great promoters of civilization, exercising a liberal hospitality. The long-continued Dutch war had left the Pernambucans proud memories. Many of the chief inhabitants looked upon themselves not only as being the landed aristocracy, but also as being the descendants of the military aristocracy of Brazil. They had indeed about them many of the distinguishing characteristics of a nobility. Their estates went from father to son, and none of their slaves were ever sold. The latter thus enjoyed the comforts and advantages of a permanent residence, and they were, like the adherents of an old Scottish chieftain, permitted to adopt the family name, of which they were not a little proud.
The estates belonging to the monastic orders might boast of a similar stability. Their slaves, likewise, were never parted with; and the treatment of these was so paternal that corporal punishment was neither needed nor thought of. Amongst the smaller proprietors, most of which class were of mixed blood, the condition of slavery was alleviated by the fact that master and slave were employed in the same work, and partook of the same food. That food consisted in the last century, as it does to-day, of jerked beef, salt fish, and mandioc flour. It was further alleviated by the nature of the religious services in which the half-coloured masters and their slaves took part, both worshipping at the shrine of the same Virgin Mary, who was depicted as a negress.
In Pernambuco there were two regiments of pure blacks, entitled, respectively, the Old and New Henriques, in honour of Henrique Diaz, whose services will be remembered in the Pernambucan War; there were likewise mulatto regiments. It is remarkable that the gipsies should have found their way into this province, where they preserve themselves intact from other parts of the population. The wild Indians of this province were, at the close of the century, well-nigh extinct.
The population of Bahia was estimated, at the close of last century, at one hundred thousand souls, two-thirds of whom were mulattoes or negroes. It abounded in convents, nunneries, and other religious establishments; but it likewise possessed public tribunals, and professors of the liberal languages and sciences, as well as a theatre and a mint. It is singular that this city should have been without a single inn; but this circumstance becomes the less remarkable when it is considered that its communication lay wholly with Portugal and with Portuguese, who must have come to it provided with letters of introduction. There were empty lodgings to be hired, as well as eating-houses and coffee-shops.
The chief port of this magnificent bay presented a constant scene of animation, eight hundred launches and boats of different sizes arriving daily. Most of these, it is said, were laden with fruits and flowers. But the port was the centre of trades of various descriptions. There was in the neighbourhood a whale-fishery; there was a sugar-plantation in the interior, which, in the Reconcave, contained the richest and most populous portion of Brazil. This term included the whole sweep of this bay, varying in breadth from twelve to forty miles. One of its largest towns contained, at the beginning of this century, one thousand and eighty-eight families. Its neighbourhood produced copper, and likewise a plant that supplied the place of hemp or flax.
At the time of the capital of Brazil being removed to Rio de Janeiro, that city was estimated to contain a population of one hundred thousand souls. At a time when the communication between Europe and India was round the Cape of Good Hope, the position of this city gave it great commercial advantages. Its harbour, beyond question the most beautiful, was likewise one of the most capacious and commodious in the world. The translation of the court from Lisbon to Brazil gave it freedom of trade and increase of capital. It must always occupy an important position; but a full description of this incomparable place must be deferred for the present.
The lately established captaincy of Minas Geraes had made very considerable strides. In the year 1776 the province contained about three hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants. The whole sum of gold extracted was estimated at forty-five millions sterling, which was probably rather under than over the amount. If it effected no other good, it certainly encouraged the spirit of discovery, and led to the population of vast territories which would otherwise have remained unexplored; whilst by its means Portugal was enabled to pay the balance of trade against her. It is needless to observe that in Minas Geraes, as in all other mining districts throughout the world, whether in California, Australia, or Africa, the proportion of crime was enormous.
The captaincy of S. Paulo is one of the greatest provinces of all those of Brazil. The elevation of the capital makes it in point of climate more desirable than that of any other city in the empire. It contained at the time of the removal of the royal family about twenty-four thousand inhabitants, one-half of them being European. Like all other places in this country, it possessed almost a superabundance of religious establishments; but it was likewise well provided with places of education. The name of Paulista, which is synonymous with that of an inveterate slave-stealer, has given a reputation to the inhabitants of this province in general which certainly many of them did not deserve.
It has been remarked as singular that so immense a country as Brazil, formed as it was by an invading European race, should have maintained its cohesion as it has done; but when the circumstances of the country are considered, the wonder ceases; for in such a vast extent the scanty population were so scattered that combination on any formidable scale became almost impossible. As has been already said, the connecting tie between the various units which form Brazil became doubly knit by the arrival of the family of Braganza, there to make their home.
Note.—This and the preceding Chapters of Vol. II. relating to Brazil are founded on
“History of Brazil;” by Robert Southey;
“Barlæi (Casp.) Rerum per octennium in Brazilia,” 1680;
“History of Brazil;” J. Henderson, 1821;
“Reise nach Brazilien, durch die Provinzen von Rio de Janeiro und Minas Geraes;” Burmeister, Berlin, 1853;
“Purchas,” iv.;
“Travels in Brazil,” Koster (H.); 1817;
Conder (Josiah), “Brazil and Buenos Ayres,” 1830;
“Relation d’un Voyage dans l’Interieur de l’Amérique Meridionale aux cotes du Brazil;” Maest, 1778; and
“Duguay-Trouin, Mémoires de;” Petitot, 2nde ser., lxxv.
CHAPTER XVIII.
REPULSE OF GENERAL WHITELOCKE AT BUENOS AYRES
1806-1807
1805.
Spain having taken part with Napoleon against the English, by granting the former a monthly subsidy, gave the latter power to make reprisals on the Spanish colonies. The first act of war was the seizure of four transports coming from La Plata—an act which decided Charles IV. to declare himself openly the ally of Napoleon in the war, which declaration was followed by the destruction of the Spanish fleet by Nelson at Trafalgar. To this disaster may in a great measure be traced the facility with which the Spanish possessions in South America were subsequently enabled to throw off the yoke of Spain.
At the time when Nelson and the waves were accomplishing their work of destruction the English Government despatched to the Southern Atlantic a force of six thousand six hundred and fifty men, under the orders of Sir David Baird. The destination of this expedition was kept a secret, but it took the direction of Brazil, then in alliance with England.
Sobremonte, the ninth Viceroy of La Plata, when he heard of the arrival of this force at Rio de Janeiro, became alarmed for the safety of the provinces under his charge, and judged it probable that the English would in the first instance attack Monte Video. He therefore transported thither all his available troops, abandoning Buenos Ayres to the care of the local militia of that place; but scarcely had he completed his preparations for the defence of the Uruguayan capital, when he learnt that the English had turned their prows in the direction of the Cape of Good Hope, which important position they wrested from Holland. The Viceroy breathed again, and returned to Buenos Ayres.
It was at that time the prevailing opinion in England that the Spanish colonies in the southern continent of America were as anxious to throw off the yoke of the mother country as had been her own colonies on the northern continent to free themselves from their connection with Great Britain; and this opinion was confirmed by General Miranda, a native of New Granada, who had been long resident in England. This officer, who had been banished from France, succeeded in persuading the English Government that they had only to show themselves on the Southern Atlantic and Pacific to be hailed as liberators. The assurance was the more welcome in that the spoil was tempting, for South America was still the land of gold and silver.
From the Cape of Good Hope it seemed feasible enough to make a dash on La Plata. Even should it not be successful, it would at any rate create alarm in Spain, and compel that country to weaken its strength at home by sending out reinforcements to its transatlantic dominions. Accordingly Sir David Baird and Admiral Popham, who commanded the fleet, resolved to send a limited force to Buenos Ayres, which place they were assured by an American officer recently arrived from there was not in a condition to offer resistance, since Sobremonte had removed the garrison to Monte Video. Sir Home Popham took the command of the flotilla, on which were embarked one thousand six hundred and thirty-five men under the orders of General Beresford.
1806.
On the 6th of June 1806, the squadron arrived at the mouth of the Plata, which stream the vessels had some difficulty in ascending; and it was only on the 25th that they were able to come to anchor near the village of Quilmes, at a distance of fifteen miles to the south of Buenos Ayres. The Viceroy had, on the 17th of the month, learned of the presence of the fleet in the river, and he had forthwith commenced his preparations for defence; but, owing to the impossibility of communicating with Monte Video,—since the English were masters of the river,—he could do no more than muster the militia and transport the contents of the treasury to Lujan, a small town at some miles’ distance in the interior.
On the 25th, the English disembarked without resistance, and throughout that night the alarm-bell at Buenos Ayres sounded unceasingly. The Viceroy, realizing the uselessness of resistance, now thought only of preparing to depart; but at daybreak a body of seven hundred horsemen with six pieces of artillery, hastily gathered together and badly armed, advanced towards the hostile force. This demonstration, however, did not survive the first fire of the English skirmishers; the seven hundred horsemen dispersed, leaving half of their artillery behind them, and Beresford met with no further resistance on his march to the suburb of Barracas, where he encamped on the evening of the 26th.
On the same night the Viceroy abandoned the city and set out with his family for the interior; when the remaining Spanish authorities thought only of capitulating. General Quintana, who commanded the militia, drew up some conditions which he sent to Beresford, whose troops were already in movement, and who, without halting, replied verbally that he would grant what was required of him after he had taken possession of the town. At three o’clock in the afternoon his force occupied the principal square and the fort, on which the English flag now replaced that of Spain.
Next day the municipality received orders to hand over to the English the public treasury as well as the money which the Viceroy had sent to Lujan, the commander giving it to be understood that this treasure was the price exacted for exempting Buenos Ayres from pillage. With this possibility before them, the municipality hastened to beg Sobremonte not to prolong a useless resistance and to accept the terms offered. The terms were accepted, and an English officer was sent with an escort to Lujan, whence, on the 5th of July, he returned with four cars, bearing half a million of silver pieces, which treasure was forthwith transported on board the “Narcissus,” the flag-ship of Sir Home Popham. This ransom money, together with all that found in the public offices, was sent to London, and deposited with great ceremony in the Bank of England.
The English general now announced the conditions to be granted to the conquered, who were required, in the first instance, to swear allegiance to George III. The Catholic religion might be freely professed; private property would be respected; all merchant-ships taken in the port would be restored; commerce would be free as in English colonies; and civil and judicial authorities who should swear allegiance to England should be permitted to retain their functions.
But, notwithstanding the seemingly complete submission, the great majority of the people of Buenos Ayres were not the mere passive spectators which they appeared. The greater proportion of the public employés took the required oath of allegiance; the colonial society opened its salons to the English officers, and the Porteña beauties were not displeased to number them amongst their admirers; but the townspeople in general could not tamely reconcile themselves to see their city, with its seventy-two thousand inhabitants, at the mercy of a paltry force of sixteen hundred men.
The Viceroy, Sobremonte, having tried in vain to assemble the militia, set out for Cordova, to which place he announced he had transferred the capital. General Beresford, on his part, was so sensible of the weakness of his position that he lost no time in begging Sir David Baird to send a reinforcement to enable him to retain his conquest. He likewise thought of seizing Monte Video; but, as this place was garrisoned by regular troops, he did not flatter himself with the idea that it would fall into his hands as easily as had Buenos Ayres, the malcontents of which latter place had a round-about means of communication with the royal troops by way of S. Fernando, the islands and the Uruguay.
The Spanish colonies of South America had been so treated throughout by the mother country as mere political children, that the people of Buenos Ayres, although they saw the disgrace of the position in which they were placed, were almost incapable of the political vigour necessary for the effort to escape from it. What they wanted above all was a leader; and had they depended solely on colonial genius at this juncture it is very unlikely that General Beresford would have been disturbed in his possession, or at least that any local leader would have been found with the necessary qualities to effect a successful revolt. But the needful leading spirit was found in the person of a Frenchman.
Jacques Liniers had been thirty years in the service of Spain. He had for some time occupied the post of governor of Misiones, and at the time of the English invasion was captain of the small port of Enseñada. He was brave, active, and enterprising, but somewhat apt to be carried away, and without much solidity of character. On learning the triumph of the English, he had asked and had obtained permission to visit his family at Buenos Ayres, but had declined to take the oath of allegiance. It was easy for him to perceive that the common people did not accept the foreign domination with the same resignation which was displayed by the wealthier colonists, who had much to lose in the case of a continuance of military operations; he likewise realized the fact that the gauchos of the surrounding pampas might materially aid a movement which should take the shape of partisan warfare in which they might fight after their own loose fashion. By good luck and a little daring he might easily get the better of an enemy so inconsiderable in number.
Having arranged his plan of action, and acting in accord with Señor Puirredon and other Creole patriots, Liniers quietly quitted Buenos Ayres and made the journey to Monte Video, where he communicated his project to General Huïdobro, who commanded there, and from whom he asked some troops, by whose aid he assured him he would compel the English to re-embark. Huïdobro was willing to aid these patriots with all the resources in his power; and Puirredon and two others were sent into the country in different directions to arrange for a rising. At the same time a small force of regular soldiers, placed under the orders of Liniers, marched for Colonia, opposite to Buenos Ayres, where it was awaited by a flotilla of light boats such as might easily evade the English vessels in the shallow waters of the Plata. Under a thick fog the flotilla crossed to the right bank, and the men disembarked at twenty-one miles to the north of the capital.
Meanwhile Puirredon with some raw forces had encountered the English. A small column of five hundred men and three guns had been sent by Beresford to drive the insurgents from Moron and other small villages where they had assembled. At the first fire the untrained levies were scattered; but the practised horsemen merely continued to circle round the enemy, and in this manner accidentally arrived near one of the field-pieces, of which by a sudden charge they were able to obtain possession. The English column returned to Buenos Ayres much chagrined at this misfortune at the hands of an enemy which they had no means of overtaking.
When Liniers arrived at San Fernando he found the gauchos all excitement at the piece of luck which had befallen them, and which revealed to them their own value in partisan warfare against the English. His small force was composed of sixty-six grenadiers, two hundred and twenty-seven dragoons, a hundred and fifty-eight volunteers, a hundred and forty Catalonians, a hundred artillerymen, three hundred Spanish seamen, sixty seamen from the islands, and seventy-three men belonging to a French privateer, who wished to take part in the affair; in all, of eleven hundred and twenty-four men, with two large guns and four small pieces. After the gaucho success, however, he had good reason to believe that he would be joined by numerous recruits, and he therefore boldly marched on Buenos Ayres.
On the afternoon of the 10th of August he reached the northern suburb, and with such despatch had his operations been conducted that up till now the English had had no notice of his proceedings. His prognostication had been correct as to his receiving recruits, for his little army was already nearly tripled in number; but unfortunately most of the new arrivals were without arms. Such volunteers, however, besides giving his force the appearance of being more formidable than it really was, were of use in the way of contributing to the transport.
On the morning of the 11th, Liniers sent a flag of truce to Beresford, requiring him to surrender. On receiving his reply in the negative, the colonists resolutely entered the town, and took possession of an edifice in which they established their headquarters; and the English, beset on all sides, were obliged to concentrate their defence in the central square and the neighbouring streets. On the morning of the 12th the Catalonian sharp-shooters, together with the men of the French privateer, penetrated as far as the cathedral, the front of which looked on the square. Then commenced a general street-fight, in which regular troops are under many disadvantages. From the balconies and the flat-roofs of the houses there rained on the English a shower of missiles of all sorts. They were driven back into the square and were forced to abandon the neighbouring streets.
Having thus cleared his way, Liniers was enabled to bring up his artillery and to pour small shot into the English as they were packed round the fort. It was then that Captain Kennet of the Engineers, General Beresford’s secretary, fell at the side of his chief. The noise of the firing and the cries of some fifteen thousand men who took part in the struggle were so deafening as to prevent the orders of the officers from being heard; and Beresford perceived that it was necessary to retreat within the fort, which he was the last of his force to enter.
A well-sustained fusillade proved fatal to all such as showed themselves above the ramparts, which in addition were commanded by the flat roofs of the houses, whose inmates might fire in perfect safety on the devoted English. Thus, seeing resistance useless, Beresford ordered a flag of truce to be hoisted; but this signal not being understood or regarded by the assailants, and the fire continuing, the Spanish flag was raised and the future victor of Albuera, showing himself upon the rampart, flung his sword into the ditch, whereupon the firing ceased.
Liniers readily granted his brave adversary all the honours of war. An hour later the English general and his staff, together with the 71st regiment, whose colours bore the names of various actions in the United States and also of Saint Jean d’Acre, had to lay down their arms and standards before the raw forces of the Gascon, by which they were marched in line, and whose prisoners of war they remained. The English occupation of Buenos Ayres had lasted forty-seven days. Its abrupt termination was chiefly due to the utter absence of any intelligence-department in the occupying force. It is difficult to attach blame to General Beresford in this or indeed in any other respect. He had, in obedience to superior orders, undertaken an enterprise for which the force at his disposal was utterly inadequate, and so rapid were the movements of Liniers that he could not possibly anticipate his coming at the head of an expedition capable of opposing him. Even had he anticipated his arrival it is not easy to see what he could have done, quartered as he was in a little fort commanded on three sides by the houses of a hostile town, which had so well disguised its hostility as to afford him no pretext for treating it in an unfriendly manner. Had he adopted the alternative course of destroying all the houses whose vicinity to the fort endangered his position, he would have, doubtless, raised the population against him, and would have found it impossible to obtain provisions for his troops. As it was, he saw the insecurity of his position and had demanded succours from the Cape of Good Hope; but the intelligence and activity of Liniers anticipated their arrival.
This victory on the part of the inhabitants of a province, unaided by Spain, had immense results, since it showed the colonists at the same time their own strength and the inability of the mother country to defend them. Liniers had in fact, to use the words of Mr. Canning, called a new world into existence.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
After the surrender of Beresford the city of Buenos Ayres assumed control of its own destinies. The fugitive Viceroy, Sobremonte, who, had he acted from the first with decision, would have placed himself at the head of the armed forces at Monte Video, and there raised the national standard, had at length succeeded in assembling a militia force with which he advanced to the capital. But his evident incapacity had made him odious to the people of Buenos Ayres; and these, elated by their triumph, resolved no longer to submit to his authority. The municipality summoned the principal inhabitants for the purpose of choosing a new government. On the 14th of August, two days after the surrender of Beresford, the meeting took place. But the citizens had scarcely assembled when the hall was crowded by the people, who with one voice demanded the election of Liniers. This selection made, a commission was appointed to notify to Sobremonte that he was no longer chief of the provinces of La Plata.
