INTER-AMERICAN ACQUAINTANCES
CURATOR OF LATIN-AMERICAN HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF THE HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY; FORMERLY A STUDENT AT THE UNI VERSIDAD MAYOR DE SAN MARCOS DE LIMA & THE UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE BUENOS AIRES
SECOND EDITION EXTENDED
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
OF SEWANEE TENNESSEE
MCMXVII
Copyright 1917 By CHARLES LYON CHANDLER
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TO HIS EXCELLENCY
DR. ROMULO S. NAON
FIRST AMBASSADOR FROM ARGENTINA TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED AS A SLIGHT RECOGNITION OF HIS PATRIOTISM IN PUBLIC
SERVICE
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PREFACE
THIS Httle book makes no claim to completeness ; its preparation by the author in the few spare moments of his life as a railway employe may perhaps excuse any fault of historical diction or exhaustiveness. It is intended to be suggestive rather than directly instructive, — to stimulate perhaps a few of those now engaged in studying South American history in its various phases in our colleges and universities to elaborate its material into historical or economic studies of permanent value. It aims to furnish proofs for the two following statements : —
(i) That the moral and material aid and example of the United States were a factor in the Latin- American wars for independence; t (2) That during that time, as well as previously, much was spoken and written by both North and South Americans which forecasted the Pan-American movement, embodying the fundamental ideas on which the Pan-American Union is based.
The author wishes to state his gratitude to Professor A. C. Coolidge, of Harvard University ; to Professor James Bardin, of the University of Virginia; and to Professor Beverly W. Bond, of the University of
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PREFACE
Indiana, who have furnished helpful suggestions after reading the proof. The authorities of the Library of Congress at Washington and of the New York Public Library have been most helpful, as well as those at the Public Library of Charleston, S. C. To the Misses Poor, of Brookline, Mass., the author's debt of personal gratitude is so great that their thoughtfulness in placing their rich stores of Latin-American information at his disposal is but a fresh evidence of the loving care of the kindest of aunts, who first inspired the author with a love for the Spanish and Portuguese languages.
The many historical works published by Latin- American scholars have been a constant inspiration to the author in his work ; the happy memory of Agustin Alvarez, of Argentina, and the keen inspiration of Anibal Maurtuaand Luis Antonio Eguiguren, of Peru, to mention but a few of many, have been fresh in- centives in the study of the development of Inter- American Acquaintances. To Henry L. Janes, Esq., formerly of the United States Diplomatic Service and now meeting with well-deserved success in other lines at Montevideo, the author renews his appreciation for several constructive hints in the preparation of this little book. C. L. C.
South American Agency of the Southern Railway and Allied Lines, Chattanooga, Tennessee, July i4th, 1917.
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CONTENTS
I. Beginning of Pan-American Relations ... I
II. Citizens of the United States of America who took part in the Latin-American War of Independence, 1810-26 114
III. The Wilkes Exploring Expedition in Brazil,
Argentina, Chile and Peru in 1838-39 . 139
IV. The Pan-Americanism of Henry Clay . . .149
V. The Pan-American Origin of the Monroe
Doftrine 161
VI. Diversions in Euscaran : A Study in Persist- ently Influential Heredity 170
Epitome of Dates, 1807-26 179
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CHAPTER I BEGINNING OF PAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS
IN the year 1648 Governor Peter Stuyvesant of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, now New York, obtained permission from his home government of Holland for his colony to trade with Brazil, — a trade which has never since been interrupted. In 1698 the learned Boston divine, Cotton Mather, notes in his diary that he is studying Spanish, and that he has prepared a religious book in Spanish for distribution in Spanish America. In 1748 Scott, Pringle & Scott, of Madeira, writing to John and William Brown, Benjamin Gerrish, Jr., and Samuel Curwin, of Salem, advise them that Madeira had been licensed to ex- port "fish and other foreign provisions to Brazil, which in course will open a larger and more ben- eficial corrimerce between this and your colony." Five years before this, in 1743, the sloop "Recruit," belonging to Henry Taggart, of Newport, Rhode Island, traded to Surinam. In 1774 Captains David Smith and Gamaliel Collins, of Truro, Massachusetts, made the first cruise from the United States to the
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Falkland Islands, and in the next year Capt. Uriah Bunker returned to his native Nantucket from a voy- age to the Brazil banks. These men were whalers, and it was to such as they that Edmund Burke alluded when he spoke as follows in the British Par- liament on March 22nd, 1775: "Falkland Island, which seemed too remote and romantic an object for the grasp of national ambition, is but a stage and resting place in the progress of their victorious in- dustry. Whilst some of them draw the line and strike the harpoon on the coast of Africa, others run the longitude and pursue their gigantic game along the coast of Brazil." It is almost more than a coincidence that Capt. Uriah Bunker returned to Nantucket on April ipth, 1775, the day of the battles of Lexington and of Concord. One hundred years later the Em- peror of Brazil sailed from that country on an April morning for the United States to aid in celebrating the centenary of their independence.
These whalers began to attract some international attention. On the thirteenth of October, 1778, the American commissioners in France, Benjamin Frank- lin and John Adams, wrote to Monsieur de Sartine: —
The English last year carried on a very valu- able whale fishery off the cost of Brazil and off the
River Plate They have this year about
seventeen vessels in this fishery, which have all sailed in the months of September and October. All the officers and almost all the men belonging to these seventeen vessels are Americans from
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Cape Cod and Nantucket in Massachusetts, ex- cepting two or three from Rhode Island and per- haps one from Long Island.
A list of twenty American captains of British whalers, sixteen of whom were from Nantucket, as obtained from the officers of three of the whalers that had been captured by French cruisers, was added to the communication. Adams and Franklin proposed sending an American frigate to destroy this whaling fleet ; but nothing was ever done. In the next year, on September I3th, 1779, John Adams wrote to the same effect regarding these American-manned vessels in the River Plate whale fishery to the council of Massachusetts Bay, adding that all the officers and men were Americans.
Let us turn to the other portion of Latin America for a moment. In 1 767 permission had been granted to the English colonies in North America to export rice to the Spanish colonies ; — and it should be re- membered in this connection that one quarter of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, the first of its kind in the New World, were merchants or shipowners. Many of them doubtless knew or had heard of the latent wealth and growing iuportance of the Americas to the south- ward. One of the signers was lost at sea during the Revolution on a voyage to the West Indies.
Neither was the west coast of South America igno- rant of the United States. In the year 1775 we find
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the famous Peruvian savant, Cosme Bueno, referring to a work on smallpox published in Boston in 1720, probably written by Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, and first printed in English by Benjamin Franklin's brother James. The Peruvian scholar, Luis Antonio Egui- guren, who has studied the history of his country so carefully and minutely, informs me of another link in the chain. They had great doings in Peru when Amat y Junient was Viceroy; and once some learned poet of Lima, so Eguiguren tells me, stated that the uni- versity ceremonies to please the Viceroy were no such great extravagance after all, for did they not do things on a far more elaborate scale in the English colonies in North America? Now this can only refer to the "Pietas et Gratulatio," published by Harvard College in sonorous Latin in 1762, when George the Third had been crowned King of England. For this is the only occasion in our early college life commemorating a royal event to which the Viceroy's apologist could have referred.
Even before the Treaty of Versailles (September 3, 1783) had been signed, establishing by international agreement the independence of the first of the New World Republics to gain its freedom, Aranda, the Prime Minister of Spain, addressed the King, Charles III, in a Memorial (1783) as follows: —
The independence of the English colonies has just been recognized, and this is food for thought and fear, in my opinion. This Federal Republic
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has been born a pigmy, so to speak, and has needed the aid of States as powerful as Spain and France to attain her independence. The time will come when she will be a giant, and even a colossus, much to be feared in those vast regions. Then she will forget the benefits that she received from both powers and will only think of aggrandizing herself. Her first step will be to get possession of the Floridas to dominate the Gulf of Mexico. These fears are, Sire, only too well founded and will be realized within a few years if other more disastrous events do not previously occur in our Americas. A wise policy admonishes us to fore- stall these threatening evils
Aranda further proposes, as a means of avoiding the loss of the Spanish colonies, that Spain should with- draw from all except Cuba and Puerto Rico, and that three kingdoms should be created, united to that of Spain, the King of Spain to take the title of Emperor over all his dominions, — a curious fore- runner of the modern "Imperial Federation System" of Great Britain.
It will be readily seen, therefore, that the influence and example of the United States of America on the Spanish colonies of that continent was feared by the Prime Minister of Spain twenty-seven years before the Spanish-American War of Independence broke out in 1810. Clearer proof could scarcely be needed of the early influence of the United States of America on the destinies of that part of the continent which was then under the Spanish Crown.
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On May 25th, 1783, Juan Manuel de Cagigal (1739-1811), then Lieutenant-General of the island of Cuba for his most Catholic Majesty Charles the Third of Spain and the Indies, addressed the following letter to George Washington : —
MOST EXCELLENT SIR :
The present circumstances have not permitted me, as the war is over and I am returning to Spain, to visit those famous countries and to have the honor of knowing the Fabius of these times as I had intended. Will your Excellency allow me to do so by means of this letter, placing myself at your orders and at the same time commending to you my aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Fran- cisco de Miranda, who has just sailed for Phiadel- phia for that very purpose ; his character, education and other qualities have always particularly at- tracted me, and I hope that they will likewise gain for him your appreciation and esteem, for which I shall be extremely grateful.
I am a constant admirer of your Excellency's heroic virtues, and I shall, therefore, have a par- ticular pleasure in serving you ; pray command me at your will. May Our Lord guard your noble life many years and keep your ' glorious deeds immortal.
This Francisco de Miranda was an enthusiastically consistent Pan-American from the day that he was born in luxury at Caracas to the night when he died in a slimy dungeon at Cadiz. rf*On pursuing his cor- respondence one is struck withthe constant repetition
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of the phrase, "Nuestras Americas" — Our Americas — expecially when he is planning concerted action with those countries distant from his native Venezuela, as Argentina and Chile. The differences in language were no barrier to his broad ideas and ideals; he urged and longed for the cooperation of Brazil and Haiti in his far-seeing plans. Miranda's Pan-American educa- tion may be considered as partly responsible for all this. He told President Ezra Stiles, of Yale, that he studied law a year or more at a college in the City of Mexico after his education in Venezuela, and he at- tended lectures at Yale University in July, 1784. So far as can be ascertained he was the first South Amer- ican to study at a university in the United States of America. It is to be greatly hoped that, with the praiseworthy attention which is now being bestowed at Yale on Latin American matters, that a Francisco de Miranda scholarship for travel and study in Latin America may be opened in the near future at that university.
Professor Robertson has so clearly detailed for us in his excellent biographical monograph on Miranda the salient facts of that great patriot's career that it only remains to be stated here that he met, talked with and was inspired by George Washington ; and that, while in the United States from the spring of 1783 to December, 1784, he seemed to have been more or less friendly with Hamilton, Franklin, Dick- inson, Greene, Moultrie, Thomas Paine, Samuel
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Adams, Livingston (who afterwards bought Louisiana from France for the United States of America), Duer, Baron Steuben, Governor Bowdoin, Izard, and William Floyd. We shall come back to Miranda later.
It must have been about 1785, that Charles Brock- den Brown, the first American author, sketched the plans of several epics, on the discovery of America and the conquests of Peru and Mexico. No vestige of them now remains.
In 1785 we find the following in the Political Herald and Review of London in an article on South America: "The flame which was kindled in North America, as was foreseen, has made its way into the American dominions of Spain. The example of North America is the great subject of discourse and the grand object of emulation."
How true this was may be seen from the following extract from a dispatch from John Adams, then United States Minister to England, to John Jay, who was then Secretary of the Confederation of the United States of America for foreign affairs, from London, dated May 28th, 1786: —
An agent from South America was not long since arrested at Rouen in France, and has not since been heard of. Another agent, who was his associate, as I have been told, is here and has applied to Government for aid. Government, not in a condition to go to war with Spain, declines to have anything to do with the business
You are probably better informed than I can
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pretend to be of the disturbances which took place in the Spanish provinces of South America, during the late war, of the pacification of them, and of the complaints and discontent which now prevails. It is a fixed opinion in many minds "ho PC, that a revolution in South America would be agreeable to the United States, and it is depended on that we shall do nothing to prevent it, if we do not exert ourselves to promote it
Diego de Gardoqui, then Spanish Minister to the United States, reported to the Marquis de Sonora on February 1st, 1786, that various United. States vessels had gone fishing to the Falkland Islands in 1 784, and that many more had proceeded thither in 1785 ; and he did not doubt that they would form an establish- ment on those Islands.1
Not six months later an incident occurred which we shall describe in the words of one of the greatest of early Pan -Americans, Thomas Jefferson, who was then United States Minister to France. He wrote to Secretary Jay from Marseilles on May 4th, 1787, as follows: —
My journey in this part of the country has pro- cured me information which I will take the liberty of communicating to Congress. In October last I received a letter dated Montpellier, October 2, 1786, announcing to me that the writer was a foreigner who had a matter of very great conse- quence to communicate to me and desired I would
lLa Nation, Centenary Volume, 1916, p. 702. [9]
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indicate the channel through which it might pass safely. I did so. I received, soon after, a letter in the following words, omitting all formal parts : — "I am a Brazilian, and you know that my un- happy country groans under a most dreadful slavery, which becomes more intolerable since the era of your glorious independence — the barbarous Portuguese sparing nothing to make us unhappy for fear that we should follow your steps. And as we know that these usurpers against the laws of nature and humanity have no other thoughts than of coercing us, we are determined to follow the striking example which you have given us; and consequently to break our chains and bring to life liberty, which is now dead and oppressed by physical force, which is the only power Europeans have over America. But as Spain will not "fail to join Portugal, it is necessary that a nation should join us, and notwithstanding the advantages we have for defence, we cannot do it, or at least it would not be prudent for us to run any hazard, without being sure of success. Your nation, Sir, is, we think, that which should most suitably assist us, because it is she that has given us the example; and also because nature has made us inhabitants of the same continent, and has consequently con- stituted us, in some sort, countrymen. We are ready, on our part, to furnish all the funds that may be necessary, and show, at all times, our gratitude towards our benefactors. This is the substance of my intention and it is to fulfill this commission that I am now in France, as I could not do it in America without exciting some sus- picions. It is for you to judge if they can be
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realized, and in case you should wish to consult your nation on the subject, I am enabled to give you all the information that you may think necessary."
I have the honor to be, etc.,
THOS. JEFFERSON. Montpelher, 21 Nov., 1786.
In this year, 1787, there was published a two- volume work at Madrid, entitled "Diccionario Geo- grafico Historico de las Indias Occidentales o Ameri- ca," written by a captain of the Royal Spanish Guards named Antonio de Alcedo y Bexarano, which was destined to enjoy a considerable circulation and in- fluence in the Spanish-American colonies. The ac- counts of the United States of America in this book are complete and unusually accurate ; it is a minute gazetteer of North as well as South America. In Vol. II, pages 104, 105, we read a long account of the Revolutionary War of the United States of America, the exhortation of 1774 to the inhabitants of Boston being printed in full. The beginning of Alcedo's account of the events in Boston is worth quoting, in translation : "The severity of the British Parliament against Boston should make all the American prov- inces tremble ; there now remains no other choice for them but imprisonment, fire, and the horrors of death or the yoke of a low and servile obedience; the time of an important revolution had arrived." One of the most interesting evidences of the influence of this geographical and historical dictionary of America
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was its use by those who promoted the Uruguayan Revolution of 1813, with particular reference to the famous "instructions" of that year.
On December I5th, 1787, Thomas Jefferson, who was still representing the United States of America at Paris, wrote as follows to William Carmichael, who was representing that country at Madrid : —
I have been told that the cutting thro' the Isthmus of Panama, which the world has so often wished and supposed practicable, has at times been thought of by the Government of Spain, and that they once proceeded so far as to have a survey and examination made of the ground ; but that the result was either impracticability or too great difficulty. Probably the Count de Campo- manes or Don Ulloa can give you information on this head. I should be exceedingly pleased to get as minute details as possible on it, and even copies of the survey, reports, etc., if they could be obtained at a moderate expense. I take the lib- erty of asking your assistance in this.
A year before this, on November I3th, 1786, Jeffer- son had written to a member of the Academy of
ices of France on this subject.
It is an extremely curious historical coincidence lat three months before Jefferson wrote the foregoing fdispatch, the "Columbia" and "Lady Washington" sailed, in September, 1787, from Boston for the west coast of South America, being the first United States vessels to go to that part of the world. They stopped
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at the island of Juan Fernandez, which the "Colum- bia" left on June 3rd, 1788, on account of the Spanish Royal Order of November 25th, 1692, which forbade foreign ships to navigate the South Seas with- out permission of Spain. It is not generally known that this, one of the most striking instances of a claim to exclusive navigation of a part of the open ocean, was not modified until October 28th, 1790, when by the Nootka Sound Treaty of that date it was modified only as regarded England, this being the first express renunciation of Spain's ancient claim -to exclusive sovereignty on the American shores of the Pacific Oc'ean and South Seas ; it marked the beginning of the collapse of the Spanish colonial system. Three years later, in 1792, United States ships came to the Lobos Islands off the coast of Peru, and from that day to this the Stars and Stripes have played their part in the development of the Pacific coast of the Americas. It may be noted in this connection that as a matter of strict law, until the last Spanish posses- sion on the Pacific coast, the fortress at Callao, sur- rendered on January 29th, 1826, less than a hundred years ago, these exclusive Spanish claims to maritime supremacy remained in force.
Spain had taken formal possession of Nootka Sound on March I4th, 1789, — a significant date in American history, for it aroused, even though in a measure indirectly, by the controversy and diplomatic corre- spondence that ensued between England and Spain,
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profound interest in the United States of America in the affairs of Spain and her colonies in the New World. From the beginning of the republic we had no more vital question of foreign affairs than that with this same country, and there are few problems which have more constantly engaged the attention of those charged with the foreign relations of the United States of America from 1789 to the present day than these Spanish American ones.
There is another point about this Nootka Sound settlement which deserves attention. Spain itself is situated between the 35th and 45th parallels of lati- tude, and by far the greater part of immigrants from Spain to America came .from between the 38th and 45th of these parallels. Now there was almost no Spanish settlement ever made during colonial times south of the 4Oth parallel of south latitude, and South America between the 3Oth and 4Oth parallels was very thinly settled until about 1850. Nootka Sound was almost the only Spanish settlement in North America that had the climate, or lay in or #bove the latitudes of the northern half of Spain. Therefore the Spaniards settled very rarely where the climatic conditions were the same as those in the mother country. Conse- quently we find the customary effects taking place among Spaniards situated in countries far hotter than those in which they and their ancestors had lived ; and the only Spanish colonies in which Spain was not even able to land an expeditionary force to reconquer them
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were those situated in a cool climate and temperate zone. These climatic influences have a profound bearing on the entire Latin- American revolutionary period with which we are about to deal ; and it is not strange that in a city of the elevation and vigorous climate of Bogota, we meet with the next striking instance of Pan-Americanism.
We should not, however, pass by an extract from a letter written in 1791 by the Jesuit father, Juan Pablo Vizcardo y Guzman, a native of Arequipa in Peru, which reads as follows : —
The valor with which the English colonies of America have fought for their liberty, which they gloriously enjoy, covers our indolence with shame; we have yielded to them the palm with which they have been the first to crown the New World by their sovereign independence.
It was also in 1791 that Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State of the United States of America, instructed David Humphreys, then U. S. Minister to Portugal, to "procure for us all the information pos- sible as to the strength, riches, resources, lights and disposition of Brazil."
We do not know how early in life the Colombian patriot, Antonio Narino, began to read about the United States; but, to judge from the proceedings of his trial in 1794 for seditious practices, he had been for some time previously, to quote the words of Enrique Unana and Bermando Cifuentes in their
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testimony of July 2 5th of that year, "working in ac- cordance with the constitution of Philadelphia." In Narino's defence at this trial he refers to the laws and constitutions of the United States of America, and exclaims, "Oh Fatherland of the Franklins, of the Washingtons, of the Hancocks, and of the Adamses, who is not glad that they lived both for themselves and for us!" He alludes to our "Neighbors of the North," an expression he may possibly have drawn from his translation in 1792 of Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man," which he circulated in Colombia in that year. Among Narino's books were a summary of the revolution of the United States of America, a compilation of the fundamental laws of that country, both in French, — the latter dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, — the Freeholder's monitor, and a Spanish- English dictionary in two volumes. He also had a portrait of Benjamin Franklin in his house as early as 1793. That Narino's ideas were not confined to himself alone is shown in the charge against Doctor Luis de Raiux, a Frenchman, who was also tried in 1794 in Colombia, that in April, 1793, in the house of Juan Dionisio Gamba, he persuaded those present with the utmost energy that it was time to throw off the yoke of despotism and form an independent repub- lic on the model of that of Philadelphia. That city was then the capital of the only American republic.
So fearful were the Spanish authorities becoming of _the spread of the influence of the United States of
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America in their American possessions that a Royal Order of May i8th, 1791, was issued forbidding the circulation of any kind of medals in the Indies which alluded to freedom of the Anglo-American colonies. It appears that this order had especial reference to cer- tain medals struck to commemorate the independence of the United States, with the word "Libertad Amer- icana" (American Liberty) engraved on thernTI
Let us return for a moment to Miranda. In 1795 commissioners from Mexico met him in Paris and held what was the prototype of all succeeding Pan- American congresses. As a result of their confer- ence a remarkable paper was submitted to the British government advocating the cooperation of Great Britian and the United States in a movement to free Latin America. The ninth and tenth articles of this document relate to the project of an alliance between Latin America and the United States, breathing the spirit of mutual interest and aspirations out of which grew the Pan-American Union. It was doubtless alarm at such concerted movements, as the foregoing incident would indicate, that the Viceroy in Peru, Don Ambrosio O'Higgins, issued a decree in April, 1796, prohibiting the introduction into Peru of foreign news- papers, among which are more definitely specified English, French, and those of the United States of America, the decree declaring that those who re- ceived and read such periodicals shall be treated as disturbers of the public peace. A month before this
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Miranda had written as follows to General Henry Knox, the first Secretary of War of the United States of America: —
I take the pen only to tell you that I live and that my sentiments for our dear Colombia, as well as for all my friends in that part of the world, have not changed in the least.
Before passing on to Miranda's Pan-American writ- ings of the year 1 794, we must not forget to mention that on the ninteenth of August, 1797, Antonio Narino declared to the Viceroy of New Granada that he had negotiated with one P. Conlon, of 64 North Front Street, Philadelphia, regarding buying arms there for the patriots. Thus Philadelphia continued to be the source of material aid as well as that of political inspi- ration in the New World. On February I7th, 1797, Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State of the United States of America, wrote as follows in an instruction to John Quincy Adams, who had been recently ap- pointed United States Minister to Portugal, of which Brazil was then a colony : —
Col. Humphreys [the first United States Minis- ter to Portugal] was desired to gain, if practicable, some certain information of Brazil, although the usual policy of European nations, and particularly of Spain and Portugal, tends to the exclusion of foreign vessels from their American Colonies, yet so far as they depend on the United States for supplies of the articles most necessary to the planters and other inhabitants, either for goods for
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building, or for the exportation of their produce, a direct trade with us would evidently be most beneficial to them as well as to us. Spain, for instance, excludes our vessels unless furnished with licenses from her public agents here; the conse- quence is, that the colonists pay nearly two prices for their flour. At other times our flour is carried to Cadiz, and thence in Spanish vessels to the Colonies. In both cases the general interests of the colonists and of the mother country are sac- rificed to the emolument of a few agents and monopolists.
I do not know whether anything similar exists in the colonial regulations of Portugal. There has never been, as I have heard, any intercourse be- tween the United States and Brazil, yet the climate and produce of at least a very large portion of that extensive country must be such as to render sup- plies of some species of provisions, particularly bread, as necessary to the inhabitants, as to those of the West India Islands. And hence I presume that those provisions, particularly flour, are trans- ported hither from Portugal — flour made of Amer- ican wheat. But we are too little acquainted with the trade, culture and wants of Brazil to form any just conclusions. The subject will warrant your attention.
In February, 1798, the Jesuit priest, Juan Pablo Vicardo y Guzman, whom we have mentioned already, died in London and left with the United States Min- ister there, Rufus King, a remarkable paper urging South American independence, in which he says of his countrymen : —
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The recent acquisition of independence by their neighbors in North America has made the deepest impression on them.
It was in the same year that Miranda gave the fol- lowing advice to Bernardo O'Higgins, afterwards Presi- dent of Chile, who was about to return to America : —
On leaving England do not forget for a moment there is only one other country in the whole world outside of that land, in which a word of politics may be spoken other than to the proved heart of a friend ; and that nation is the United States.
We may wonder — for we do not know the precise date of the memorable interview above quoted — whether it occurred before or after Miranda received Alexander Hamilton's letter to him, of August 22nd, 1798, which reads as follows, in part, regarding Miranda's efforts toward obtaining South American independence : —
The sentiments I entertain with regard to that object have long since been in your knowl- edge; .... It was my wish that matters had been ripened for a cooperation in the course of this fall, on the part of this country; the winter, however, may mature the project and an effective cooperation by the United States may take place. In this case I will be happy, in my official station, to be an instrument of so good a work.
The "official station" to which Hamilton refers was the position he then occupied in the United States army.
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We have seen that Miranda was the first South American to study at a United States university, at Yale in 1784. One of the many glories of Georgetown University is the long and distinguished list of Latin- Americans who have found inspiration within its halls. They include a president of Chile, the elder Errazuriz; a distinguished Peruvian cabinet minister and diplo- mat, Felix Cipriano Coronel Zegarra; and the list was begun when in 1801, just after that pioneer of Pan- Americanism, Thomas Jefferson, had been inaugurated President of the United States of America, twenty- three young Cubans were brought there by the good Bishop Claget, afterwards Bishop of Louisville, Kentucky.
From the day when the United States was duly constituted as a nation, in 1789, it began to come in touch with the colonial power of Spain. Her rela- tions with Spain and the Spanish Empire were of*"N paramount importance to the first American Repub- \ lie. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and the United States' foreign relations were far more im- V portant, with reference to her very national existence, during the early years of her history than at a later date. Few realize to-day the extent and influence of the Spanish Colonial Empire in 1800. It was as large, if not larger, than it had been a hundred years before. Only Jamaica, Belize, Trinidad and Santo Domingo had gone. Louisiana had been gained, and the English invasion of Porto Rico had been de-
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cisively repulsed by Victor Hugues, a French colonial leader who has never received his due reward from historians, at the battle of Cangrejos Bay. King George's forces had occupied, but had not kept, Havana and Manila. From Pensacola to Chiloe, from Montevideo to California, the word of the King of Spain was obeyed. Charles III of Spain and the Indies, whose statue still stands in Mexico City, had employed able viceroys — Bucareli in Mexico, Amat y Junient in Peru, and Vertiz in Buenos Aires compare favorably with Warren Hastings, the Earl of Moira and Marquis Wellesley in India, or with Decaen and Louis, who were Napoleon's ablest colonial govern- ors. Explorations and expansions of the Empire had taken place from many colonial centers. Malaspina had discovered glaciers in Alaska, which still bear his name. The site of Chicago was occupied for awhile by a Spanish force from St. Louis in 1783, when for a few months Spanish power extended from Lake Michigan to Cape Horn. Faulkner and Biedma had explored Patagonia, Boenechea had reached Tahiti, and missionary priests had camped on the shore of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Spain, Portugal, Eng- land and the United States were the greatest Ameri- can powers ; and the English still looked on the West Indies as more preciously valuable than Canada, — Canada, which had been balanced against Guadeloupe in 1763, and which Voltaire had referred to as a "few acres of snow."
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When we realize that 58.3% of the exports of the United States of America in 1801 were to those parts of the American continent which lay south of her, we can see wherein her foreign in- terests largely lay. Of the $46,377,792 worth of merchandise exported from the United States in that year, 21%, or $9,699,732, went to the British West Indies; 19%, or $8,969,812, to the Spanish West In- dies other than Honduras or Campeche; 15%, or $7,147,972, to the French West Indies; 2.2%, or $1,049,361, to the Danish West Indies, .and 1.3%, or $625,791, to the Dutch West Indies. In 1800 the exports to "other Spanish West Indies" had been almost equal to those in the subsequent year — $8,993,401. In 1802 the first specification occurs of exports to a South American territorial division — $1,041 worth of goods to Brazil, which increased to $4,374 in 1807 and $540,653 worth in 1809.
The last years of the Spanish Colonial Empire in America were filled with the struggle between the old policy of commercial restrictions and the desire on the part of the rapidly developing commercial class for not merely more entensive inter-colonial relations, but for wider ones with the world at large. The Royal Order of April 2Oth, 1799, prohibiting the commerce of the Spanish dominions to vessels from neutral parts was loosely obeyed, when we study the commerce between Philadelphia and the River Plate in that year. We read in the True American, a daily news-
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paper of Philadelphia, in its issue for October I4th, 1799, that the three United States vessels which lay at Montevideo in the spring of that year were the first traders thither. As a matter of fact, there were more than three vessels at Montevideo in 1799 from the United States of America. The ship "John," of Phil- adelphia, sailed from the "River La Plata" on March I4th, 1799, for her home port; the brig "Rose," Captain John Meany, which arrived at Philadelphia on May 29th, 1799, "in fifty-seven days from the Isle of Lobos, near the Falkland Islands, and sometime before from the Rio de la Plata," had left at Monte- video when she sailed thence, about April 1st, 1799, at least three United States vessels, — the ship "Lib- erty," Captain Miller, of Philadelphia, which arrived at Philadelphia September 3Oth, 1799; an unnamed brig under Captain Cronin, of Philadelphia, and the ship "Diana," Captain Bunker, of Baltimore. Cap- tain Meany stated that all foreign vessels had been ordered out of the several ports by the Viceroy (of the Rio de la Plata) in thirty days.
While we are discussing Philadelphia and the River Plate, it is interesting to note an advertisement of Buenos Aires hides in the Philadelphia Gazette for January I2th, 1801, to be sold from the ship "Con- necticut," at Race Street Wharf, by James Crawford & Co., and in the same issue "First quality Caracas cocoa," Cumana cotton and Santo Domingo coffee are advertised.
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"His Majesty cannot behold with indifference the lack of compliance and scant zeal with which his sovereign resolves are treated," reads a Royal Order of July 1 8th, 1800, from a further perusal of which we learn that, among others, the Royal Order of April 2Oth, 1799, above referred to, could not have been strictly adhered to. "The scandalous introduction of all kinds of foreign commerce into his Majesty's Pos- sessions, chiefly into those of New Spain and the prov- inces nearby from the United American States and Jamaica and Brazil, and into those of Peru and Buenos Aires from Rio de Janeiro, and from other colonies near our own," is emphasized ; but the exigencies of commerce gradually forced aside such prohibitions. A confidential instruction to the Viceroy of Buenos Aires from the Spanish Government, dated January 1 4th, 1 80 1, reads as follows, in translation : —
EXCELLENCY :
The imperative needs of the Monarchy, which is in the same calamitous circumstances as those from which all Europe is suffering, and the indis- pensable need of meeting the obligations of the Crown, compel us to make use with all urgency of all possible means to meet such obligations.
The lack of capital existing in these dominions for the account of the Royal Treasury, since com- munication therewith is intercepted, has suggested to me the extraordinary means of establishing credit arrangements so that His Majesty may reestablish in his Chief Treasury, for which pur-
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pose the King has just authorized the Treasurer- General to undertake such operations as he may deem proper, to obtain a prompt transfer of those sums of money to Spain, by entering into rela- tions with established houses in the United States, which will furnish the required amount in money or commodities, with assurance of their shipping the equivalent value thereof. In consequence of this plan his Majesty has decided that your Ex- cellency shall place at the disposal of the Treas- urer-General all the things which he may need for the aforementioned purpose, and that in conse- quence thereof he permits your Excellency to allow their shipment, either in money or goods, freely, or to cause them to pass freely under your Excellency's orders, either in Anglo-American ships or under any other neutral flag, the custo- mary duties to be paid in accordance with the tariffs and orders which your Excellency has.
"Anglo-American Ships," as will be seen from the above, were not by any means unknown in the Vice- Royalty of the Rio de la Plata. They had been in the South Atlantic whale trade since 1774, and on April 5th, 1776, we find the Marquis of Sonora informing the Viceroy of Buenos Aires that Don Diego de Gar- doqui, then Spanish Minister to the United States, — that same Gardoqui who inspired young Belgrano, when in Spain, with visions of a new and broader freedom — and whose father's business house had aided the cause of United States' independence, — had written him under date of February 1st, 1786,
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that, though the citizens of the United States had sent several vessels to the Falkland Island fisheries in 1784, even more had gone thither in 1785, and there was fear of their establishing warehouses or depots on that island — almost a parallel case to what later oc- curred in connection with the Newfoundland fisheries. It must have been one of these vessels which on its return from these whale fisheries sometime about the end of the year 1 796, when George Washington was still President and was conjuring his fellow-citizens to avoid entangling foreign alliances, that a United States bark called in at Maldonado to inform the au- thorities that the establishment at Puerto Deseado — then the southernmost Spanish outpost in the New World — was lacking supplies. The governor and marine commandant at Montevideo reported this to his superior officer, the Viceroy of the Rio de la Plata, and asked his advice as to whether the vessels of the United States of America could sail the seas near the coasts of those provinces; but the King, through Godoy, the Prince of the Peace, decided in a Royal Order, issued on May 9th, 1797, that such coasts should remain unknown to every foreign power. This did not prevent three North American ships from sail- ing "to the Havannah between March 5th, 1799, and May 6th, 1800, from Montevideo," with salt pro- visions;* nor could this have been wholly a one-sided trade, since the frigate "Wilmington" arrived at Mon
* Helms, Travels, p. 145.
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tevideo from Philadelphia on February 1 2th, 1 800, and was transferred at Montevideo to the Spanish flag.
The seventh volume of that important source-book of Argentine history, entitled "Documentos para la Historia Argentina," which is ably edited by the dis- tinguished young Argentine scholar, Diego Luis Molinari, contains many valuable documents which illustrate the history of this period. Document No. 109 is of particular interest. It is No. 6369 of the collection of manuscripts in the Argentine National Library, and appears to be a part of some other docu- ments. It is entitled : "Memorandum to ascertain the just causes why vessels chartered by Nationals from the Anglo-Americans should be admitted, con- sidering the Orders and exchange of opinions under the application and terms of the Royal Circular Order of December 18, 1797."
The matter in question refers to an order given from Buenos Aires to the House of the Indies at Cadiz to transfer the funds to Philadelphia, where credit had been opened for a certain sum. Power of attorney was given to Don Thomas O' Gorman, and he was instructed to buy goods and to enter into con- tracts for the acquisition or loading of vessels, the ac- counts to be endorsed by the Spanish consul in Phila- delphia. Such contracts had been duly entered into for apparently more than one vessel by O' Gorman.
It appeared that the only neutral country which I had sufficient merchant marine and conveniently sit-
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uated harbors was the United States, and that, owing to the war in Europe, such a measure was essential in order to maintain the commerce of the Spanish- American colonies. These ideas are substantiated in
" -K t
the circular of January I4th, 1801 (p. 268).^)
The first United States vessels to reach Buenos Aires were the bark "James" of Boston, Captain Robert Gray, and the "Superior," from Providence, Rhode Island, both of which arrived at Buenos Aires on April i8th, 1801. The "Superior" brought out the first definite shipment of any commodity of which we have any trace from the United States to Buenos Aires, — twelve cases of household furniture.*
rip 1 80 1 and 1802, when the nineteenth century began, eight of the thirteen maritime states — all we had then — of America were trading with almost every commercially developed portion of the South American continent. New Hampshire, Massachu- setts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Penn- sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were sending vessels to Brazil, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Chile and the Spanish Main, Cartagena, La Guaira and Porto CabelloT^ Pan-American commercial relations had begun. During the last two months of 1801 the commerce of the United States of America with the American colonies of Spain, France and Por- tugal continued to be active. The first issue of the
*See Telcgrafo Mercantil^ Buenos Aires edition of 1914, pp. 84 and 85.
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New York Evening Post, for November i6th, 1801, advertises Demerara coffee, and in the same issue we read that the ship "Merrimack," Captain Williams, bound from Salem, Massachusetts, to the Rio de la Plata, was spoken on the 3Oth of September, 1801, in longitude 37° 30', by Captain Rockwell, of the ship "Commerce," which arrived at New York on Novem- ber 1 6th, 1 80 1, from Hamburg, after a fifty- three- days' journey.
The trade between the north coast of South Amer- ica and the Atlantic coast ports of the United States was constant. On November i8th, 1801, the brig "Abrogail," Captain Tuebner, arrived in New York from Cayenne with a cargo of rocoa, cloves and leather, after a fifty-three-days' voyage, consigned to Champlin & Smith. In the issue of the New York Post for December iQth, 1801, we read that the ship "Edward," Captain Perry, arrived at Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, on December 4th, 1801, from the coast of Chile. Mr. Prescott, a passenger, stated that there were six United States vessels at Mas-a-fuera, Chile, on August 9th, 1801, namely: The ship "Washington," Captain Cole, from Miantonomo ; the ship "Swain," of Norwich; the ship "Concord," Captain Weyer, of Salem, Massachusetts; the schooner "Nancy," Captain Floyd, also of Salem; the ship "Perseverance," Captain Delano, of Boston, was at last accounts (see Marvin's book); the schooner "Amico," Captain Howe, of Norwich, had sailed for
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St. Felix Island at last accounts; the ship " ,"
Captain Brown, of Providence, was at Valparaiso, July 4th, 1801; the ship "Trial," Captain Coffin, of Nantucket, had sailed from Coquimbo, August 3rd, for the Leeward.
Of the ten vessels which cleared from Philadelphia on December 2 1st, 1801, seven were bound for Latin America. The ship " Escolastica " was for the Rio de la Plata ; two were for Surinam, both brigs, the "Tash," Captain Richards, and "George," Captain Bell. The brig "Jefferson," Captain Bartlett, cleared for Curacoa ; two others departed for Habana and one for Cape Francis, Hayti. The next day, December 22nd, 1 80 1, two of the three vessels that entered at New York City were from the same part of the world. The brig "Fox" brought hides, mahogany, logwood and sugar from Trinidad, and the brig "Tartar" sugar, coffee and cotton from Port Republic, Hayti. Both were consigned to Isaac Roget, of New York. On December 28th, 1801, two vessels arrived at New York City from the Spanish Main — as it was still called in the New York newspapers — the brig "Thomas Pinckney," Captain McFall, with coffee, cotton and indigo from La Guaira, consigned to Wil- liam Shaw; and the ship "Young Eagle," Captain Steel, from Puerto Cabello, with cocoa and tobacco.
Mr. Augustine Madan, who had been appointed United States Consul at La Guaira in 1800, must have been kept busy with these arrivals and depar-
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tures of American vessels. When the brig " Mary," Captain John O'Connor, of New York, arrived at La Guaira, on November 26th, 1801, she found that flour was selling there at $9.00, United States gold, a barrel. On December 3Oth, 1801, the brig "Sam- son," Captain Clapp, arrived at New York from Su- rinam, in thirty-seven days, with rum and molasses. Scarcely a single day went by without some ship arriving from Latin America ; nor was all this busi- ness confined to the Island of Manhattan. On Janu- ary 6th, 1 802, the New York Evening Post is forced to confess that not a single vessel had that day en- tered the port of New York ; the day before, however, the ship "Patapsco," Captain Sims, had arrived at Philadelphia from Rio de Janeiro, having sailed thence October 3Oth, 1801, leaving there then the ship "Rolla," of Boston. A few days before the ship "Monticello," Captain Davy, of Philadelphia, had sailed from Rio de Janeiro for the Isle of France — then a French colony; now we call it Mauritius. On November ipth, 1801, the ship "Mary," Captain Baucher, had arrived at Philadelphia from Cayenne (Evening Post, November 2Oth, 1801), and reported (that same day) the schooner "Sarah," Captain Wil- lig, of Norfolk, Va., had sailed from Cayenne in Sep- tember, 1 80 1, for the Rio de la Plata. On November 1 8th, 1 80 1, the schooner "Polly," Captain May, ar- rived at Boston from La Guaira, and on November 9th, 1801, the brig "Ann Jane," Captain Miller, ar-
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rived at Charleston from La Guaira in sixteen days. Two vessels arrived at New York from Surinam on November 24th, 1801, the schooner "Nancy," Cap- tain Parker, in forty days, and the sloop "Lucy," Captain Hotchkiss, in thirty-eight days. Both car- ried molasses; the "Lucy" also had "puncheons of rum."
The New York Evening Post for July ist, 1802, quotes from Reif's Philadelphia Gazette a "remon- strance drawn up and signed by the Americans at Buenos Aires and presented to the Governor," and adds that "letters by Captain Logan, from the Rio de la Plata, represent the situation of American citizens and property there, in terms the most distressing and humiliating." The remonstrance is dated March 26th, 1802, a month and a half after De Forest's arrival at Buenos Aires on February iQth, 1802. Captain Lo- gan had sailed from Buenos Aires in the schooner "Thetis" about May 2nd, 1802 (Evening Post, July 1 6th, 1802); according to the New York Evening Post, for July loth, 1802, she did not arrive at Phila- delphia until July 9th, 1802. In the issue of the same paper for July 23rd, 1802, the following inter- esting document is printed : —
FROM SOUTH AMERICA
[Extract of a letter dated Buenos Aires, May 5th, from the captain of an American ship (char- tered in this country to take freight from that place to Europe) to his owners in Boston.]
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The iron I brought for ballast was taken out of my ship by an order from this Government, and landed in the Custom-House, but, since that, it has been removed into a warehouse, where it still remains. I have not received pay for it yet, but expect to. I send you here a duplicate of a cer- tificate I have sent before, of the landing of the iron ; I also send you a copy of a memorial pre- sented to the Vice King here, signed by those Americans whose names you will see. The Me- morial never has been answered or noticed. I send you also a copy of a letter, lately sent to our Minister at the Court of Spain, signed by the same [men] whose names are to the Memorial. I know not whether I shall meet your approbation, but I could do not other than to join the others, though my situation in some respects is different from theirs. The treatment that I have unjustly experi- enced here from the Chiefs or Directors of Gov- ernment would scarcely meet your belief. Exclu- sive of the rascally detention I have suffered, I have had my seamen taken from on board my ship by order of his Vice Majesty, and put on board his armed vessels to cruize upon the coast and in the river to capture whatever American vessels they fall in with ! while others of my crew have been enticed by Spanish officers to desert my ship and leave me in distress. On my making appli- cation to the Vice King to have those men sent back to their duty, he immediately issued an or- der for me to pay them the amount of their wages and to deliver their effects, which I promptly re- fused to do. All my petitions have been disre- garded by this despotic officer, who has frequently
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threatened me with imprisonment for not paying the wages of the seamen. Nothing can exceed his antipathy of the Americans and contempt of the Government of the United States.
As it has ever remained a doubt with me how long I shall be detained here I could do no other than to join with my unfortunate countrymen here, praying for the interference of our own Government.
Various citizens of the United States of America at Buenos Aires had addressed a complaint to Charles Pinckney, the United States Minister to Spain, on April 22nd, 1802, concerning the difficulties which the local authorities were creating for them. The petition read as follows : —
SIR:
Weary of individual exertion in pursuit of that redress which our treatment in this country so loudly demands, we feel ourselves compelled to resort for it to the interference and influence of the American Government.
It is with much satisfaction we find that you are the diplomatic agent of the United States, near the Court of Spain, and we look forward with confi- dence in your well-tried patriotism, for an appli- cation for justice from the court.
The inclosed memorial, lately presented by us collectively to the Government here, will furnish you with a general idea of the nature of the griev- ance we have suffered. We must defer transmit- ting to you, till we have time to collect and
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arrange them, and are able to procure the docu- ments necessary to substantiate their truth. In the meantime we conceive it of the utmost im- portance to the final success of our respective claims that the Court of Spain be prepared for their formal reception, and that all improper in- trigue on the part of the wrongdoers here may be defeated.
We are the more convinced of the necessity of an early attention to these points, by the depar- ture from the Province of Don Francisco del Pino, the beginning of the present month, for Spain. He is the son of the Vice King and we have good reason to believe goes charged with his father to make representations to the Spanish Court, unjust in themselves and extremely hostile to us.
The conduct of the Vice King here, indeed, stands in need of a special and confidential agent for its justification, a conduct marked by the mean and mercenary spirit of plunder on one hand and a shameful neglect or ignorance of duty on the other.
While his Vice Majesty has his whole family on the alert for the discovery and seizure of some petty packages of contraband, he basely suffered our enemy of inferior force to enter this Province and strip the King, his master, of towns and territory. With regard to us, he has, if possible acted still more unworthily. All our petitions, whether in- dividual or collective, have been passed over with silent contempt. Hospitality and justice have been denied us, and our persons and our property have been the sport of the most wanton tyranny. Where he dares not oppress us by an active cruelty, he unfeelingly ruins us by delay, and when
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he cannot reach us directly by his injustice, he aims it indirectly by the encouraging or compel- ling individuals to violate their contracts with us.
The Government of Montevideo has not only been his able conductor, in these ungenerous and unjust proceedings, but has ever appeared to place an ambition to excelling him.
They shall address the Government of the United States concerning these grievances and injuries ; in the meantime, we doubt not you will do everything in our behalf, consistent with your official situation.
Mr. Titus Welles, who will havevthe honor to deliver this letter, is a gentleman well acquainted with the affairs of his unfortunate countrymen in these ports, and fully competent to answer every inquiry on the subject
To him we beg leave to refer you, and are with sentiment of the highest consideration and re- spect, Sir, your most obedient and humble servants.
[Signed] Thomas O'Reilly, Caleb Loring, John Ansley, Josiah Roberts, Robert Gray, Moses Griffin, Daniel McPherson, John Grant, Josiah Gould, Daniel Olney and William Todd, Jr.
On August 1 5th, 1802, Minister Pinckney re- ported to the Department of State that: —
To these considerable claims for captures are to be added all our other claims arising from the ex- cesses of individuals contrary to the law of nations or the treaty [of 1795 between the United States and Spain], which I am informed are to an amaz- ing amount, particularly from South America. On
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the latter subject, it was impossible for me to ob- tain exact accounts, but from every information I have received, and particularly from a gentleman who brought me a letter from you [this appar- ently refers to the Secretary of State, James Madi- son] and who has lately been in that country, I learn that the claims which our citizens have, are so great as to amount to a sum of not less than five millions of dollars, and he believes probably eight millions ; most of which he thinks, from a knowledge of their peculiar circumstances, may be arbitrated under this convention [which Pinck- ney was then negotiating with the Spanish Gov- ernment], the wording of which I showed him in confidence, in order that I might determine how far it was sufficiently general to include every case, within his knowledge, which might be said to be contrary to the laws of nations and the ex- isting treaty.*
By the fifth clause of the ninth article of the treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819, by which Florida was finally ceded to the United States of America, the United States Government renounced to Spain: —
All claims of citizens of the United States upon the Spanish Government, statements of which, so- liciting the interposition of the Government of the United States, have been presented to the Depart- ment of State, or to the Minister of the United States in Spain, since the date of the convention of 1 802 and until the signature of the treaty.
Annals of Congress, Volume XII, p. 948. [38]
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The following were the United States vessels which called at the River Plate ports in 1801 and 1802, so far as can be ascertained : —
Name of Vessel Captain and Home Port In Ri-ver Plate
1. Alexandria Griffin, Philadelphia April 22, 1802
2. America Swain, Philadelphia May 20, 1802
3. Antelope Rich, Boston May 20, 1802
4. Aurora Thompson, Philadelphia May 20, 1802
5. Canton Willis, Philadelphia July 15, 1802
6. Cumberland Mackey, Boston May 20, 1802
7. Eliza Caleb Loving, Boston April 22, 1802
8. Enterprise Wilcox, Connecticut May 20, 1802
9. Fair William Todd, Jr., Boston . . April 22, 1802
10. Five Brothers . . .Breck, Boston -. . . . May 20, 1802
11. Hannibal Jenkins, Providence May 20, 1802
12. Holland , Martha's Vineyard. . .July — , 1802
13. James Robert Gray, Boston April 18, 1801 ,
to May 20, 1802
14. Joseph John Grant, Kennebunk April 22, 1802
15. Louisa Moffatt, Philadelphia May 20, 1802
16. Mary Norton, Philadelphia May 20, 1802
17. Mary Ann Daniel Olney, Providence. . .May 20, 1802
18. Mercury Parsons, Boston May 20, 1802
19. Merrimack Williams, Boston May 20, 1802
20. Minerva Hall, Boston May 20, 1802
21. Molly Harding, Philadelphia May 20, 1802
22. Montezuma Isaac Isaacs, Boston April 22, 1802
23. Olive Conklin, New York May 20, 1802
24. Oliver Ellsworth.— — , New York July 15, 1802
25. Prudence Paddock, Boston
26. Phoenix Cottole, Boston May 20, 1802
27. Phoenix Josiah Roberts, Boston April 22, 1802
28. Pigou Collett, Philadelphia May 20, 1802
29. Resolution Olney, Boston May 20, 1802
30. Rosebud Peese, Philadelphia May 20, 1802
31. Rio Stevens, Portsmouth, N. H. .May 20, 1802
32. Rising Sun Josiah Gould, Boston April 22. 1802
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33. Rolla Arnold, Providence May 20, 1802
34. Rose Miller, Philadelphia May 20, 1802
35. Ruby B. Hoey, Philadelphia July 15, 1802
36. Sally Daniel McPherson April 22, 1802
37. Sally Taylor, Boston May 20, 1802
38. Success Conklin, New York May 20, 1802
39. Sultan Cole, Boston April 20, 1802
40. Superior , Providence April 18, 1801
41. Thetis Logan, Philadelphia May 2, 1802
42. Three Sisters John Ansley, Philadelphia. .April 22, 1802
43. Washington Williamson, Philadelphia . . . Feb. 10, 1802
44. Yankee Kilbourn, Connecticut May 20, 1802
Thus in the year 1 802 forty-four vessels from seven of the seventeen states which then comprised the United States of America — seven of the thirteen maritime states, to make it more effective — were trad- ing with Buenos Aires. Of these forty-four vessels, twenty-one were from Boston ; one from Cape Ann ; one from Kennebunk, then also in Massachusetts; fifteen from Philadelphia ; four from Providence ; two from New York ; two from Connecticut, and one from Portsmouth, N. H. Yet another vessel appeared to have arrived a little later, as we read in the issue of the New York Evening Post for July Hth, 1802, a quota- tion from the Boston Gazette, being an " Extract of a letter from an American Gentleman of Respectability at Buenos Aires, South America, to his friend at Bos- ten, dated April 17, 1802," which reads in part: —
It is suggested that several of the American frigates are to be ordered to the River Plate, to release the shipping belonging to this country,
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detained there by order of the Spanish Govern- ment Some of these vessels are Indiamen, which put in there in distress last March ; others that sailed from Boston and other ports in the United States, in consequence of contracts made with merchants under a guarantee of security from that Governmennt
An analysis shows that some of these vessels had apparantly been detained for some time at Buenos Aires. The "James" had arrived there from Boston on April i8th, 1801, and we know that De Forest on his arrival there on February roth, 1802", found twelve American ships at Montevideo and twenty at Buenos Aires, including the "Washington," of Philadelphia. On August 1st, 1 80 1, the prohibition against the United States' vessels coming or trading to Buenos Aires was repeated, reiterating the Royal Spanish pro- hibition of April 2Oth, 1799, to that effect.
On July 28th, 1801, Alejandro Duran addressed a petition to the Royal Consulate of Buenos Aires to bring four or six master cutters — "Master workmen, Catholic Irishmen, who abound in North America" — from the United States to establish a tannery for all kinds of leather in Buenos Aires. This was approved by the Junta, Manuel Belgrano being then Secretary thereof. Duran further stated that he had 37,820 pesos in New York, "as is stated in accompanying papers." In this connection the following document is of interest: "It is interesting to note that it was proposed to open a credit in Philadelphia for the Vice-
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royalty of Buenos Aires in 1799-1800 through Thomas O' Gorman, who was then in that city, and who seems to have actually contracted for the freighting of cer- tain United States merchant vessels there to relieve the scarcity of bottoms in the River Plate trade." *
The Louisiana purchase of 1 803 directed the atten- tion of the United States of America more and more to the Latin colonies, as they then were, of the New World. An Act of Congress of February 24th, 1804, privileged French and Spanish ships and "those of their colonies" in the ports of Louisiana for twelve years from the exchange of ratifications of the Lou- isiana treaty, — a commercial measure of freedom which the growing mercantile intercourse of the countries of the New World were not slow to avail themselves of.
On March 4th, 1805, the New York Evening Post printed a letter from Hamburg, dated December 4th, 1804, which said in part: "Could a cargo of linens be sent out to Buenos Aires and one of hides be got in return, it would make a very successful voyage." The "Antelope," Captain Pittmam, arrived at New York from La Guaira on May 6th, 1805, in twenty-five days — a record beaten three weeks later, when the "Lively," Captain Van Allen, made the same voyage in fourteen days. On July I5th, 1805, there were three brigs and one schooner flying the Stars and Stripes at Cayenne, French Guiana.
*"Documentos para la Historia Argentina, VII, pp. 174, 175. [42]
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Before we begin to consider in detail the two Pan- American events of the year 1806 which are most generally remembered, it may be well to quote the following extract from the Introduction written by Samuel Latham Mitchill to De Pon's "History of Venezuela," published in 1806, — which, by the way, was one of the first books of so comprehensive a nature published in the United States of America on a Latin- American country : —
For the seasonableness and importance of a work, written with the ability manifested in every part of this, on the Province of South America, belonging to the Captain-Generalship of the Ca- racas, cannot fail to recommend it to the notice of statesmen, merchants, and the lovers of general knowledge.
This is the first occasion on which we find Mitchill interested in Latin-American matters; an interest which was to lead to important consequences, as we shall see later.
That such an expedition as that of Francisco de Miranda from New York City to Venezuela in 1806, to endeavor to free that country from Spain, had been anticipated by the world at large is shown by a re- markable letter from the French explorer and scien- tist, Peron, to Charles Decaen, the Governor of Mau- ritius, or the Isle of France as it was then called, of the twentieth Frimaire Year XII (i ith of December, 1803 in which he foresees an insurrection of the Spanish
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colonies in America, and gives a somewhat detailed account of the probability thereof.
On February 2nd, 1806, Miranda sailed from New York with his little expedition on the ship "Leander." He had previously endeavored to enlist the service of Petion, then prominent in what is now the Dominican Republic, thus showing that his efforts were not con- fined to his native country alone. It would be inter- esting to know who wrote an article in the Richmond Inquirer early in the year 1806, which is quoted in the Federal Gazette for March 4th of that year. It stated that if Miranda was successful, that "a new con- federation of states might start into existence"; and that as its people became more free and enlightened, "the United States of South America, like the United States of the North, will represent to admiring Europe another republic, independent, confederated, and happy." The failure of Miranda's attempt to land near Puerto Cabello on April 2/th, 1806, which led to its complete failure and the imprisonment in hor- rible dungeons of many of the young citizens of the United States who took part therein, including a grandson of President John Adams, Moses Smith, did not deter that intrepid leader from attempting another invasion of Venezuela on July 2/th, on which occa- sion the "Leander" was accompanied by the American brig "Commodore Barry." This expedition failed, although every effort was made to arouse the people of Venezuela to insurrection, and the Jesuit Vicardo
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y Guzman's letter, to which we have alluded above, was distributed in that country.
William S. Smith, the father of the young Moses Smith, said: "With respect to my son, he was not made acquainted with the plans of General Miranda; he went with him as a young companion, to share his fortunes and his fate ; he was accompanied by some of his friends, capable of deeds of hardihood and valour — worthy their leader, worthy his cause."
Some idea of the assistance rendered by the United States of America to these expeditions of Miranda in 1806 may be gathered from the following translation of an extract from an official dispatch from the Spanish Government to the American legation at Madrid, dated June2nd, 1806, complaining of this assistance: —
The arms, the munitions of war, and the re- bellious persons who were preparing to
attack a part of the Dominion of the King in American ships, with American crews, and sailors on board, as well as sons and relatives of persons employed by the American Government, was be- ing arranged in New York ; the boats were insured in an American company.
In the spring of 1807 the portraits of Washington and Miranda were found, among others, on a hand- kerchief of English manufacture near the place where Miranda had landed in Venezuela.
It is not the purpose of this work to give a detailed account of the life of any of the great South American
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leaders of the War of Independence, so we will merely mention that Simon Bolivar was at the impressionable age of twenty-three when he landed in Boston in Oc- tober, 1806. After visiting the battlefields of Lex- ington and Concord, he passed through New York, visited Philadelphia and spent several days in Wash- ington, where he probably met President Jefferson, and sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, some time in January 1807, to Venezuela by way of the West In- dies, after having obtained a clearer idea at first hand of the United States of America.
Captain Campbell of the American schooner " Mary" arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, on December 1 9th, 1806, after a passage of seventy-six days from Montevideo. When he left that port on October 3rd, 1806, there were five United States ships there — two from Charleston, two from New York, and one from Boston. Mr. Gilbert Deblois, of Boston, arrived at New York on January I5th, 1807, from Montevideo, via Cayenne. He had left Montevideo on October 25th, 1806, and gave out an interesting interview in New York on the British invasion of Buenos Aires. William P. White, a native of Pittsfield, Mass., had come to Buenos Aires as early as 1804; and George Washington's Farewell Address was known there in 1805, less than ten years after it was delivered. General Belgranp tells us that it came into his hands in that year. V In 1 808, of the seventy-nine foreigners who were then living in Chile, nine were citizens of the
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United States of America, five of whom were at Sana— tiago, three at Talcuahuano, and one at CopannaJ The Argentine historian, Bartolome Mitre, notes that even before United States Consul-General Poinsett arrived in Chile in 1812, vague notions of independ- ence and republicanism had been spread abroad in that country through business men and whalers from the United States of America, the whalers being called "Boston men," as many came thence. In 1807 An- drew Sterett, of Baltimore, several of whose family have since been prominent in Pan-Americans affairs, died at Lima, Peru, where he had been engaged in business. He was one of the earliest naval officers of the United States of America.which has named a torpedo boat destroyer after him. ^
Probably the most prominent among the citizens of the United States of America who were then in Buenos Aires was David C. De Forest (1771-1825); he was certainly the first one to call the attention of his country's government to the need of its represen- tation in that city, which had about 45,000 inhabitants at that time. De Forest is characterized by the Ar- gentine annalist Zinny as "that worthy American, whose portrait exists [1875] in the University of Buenos Aires, and who acquired an honorable position in that city, which gave him that distinction." On October 4th, 1807, he addressed a long letter from Buenos Aires to Secretary James Madison, in which he speaks of ships under the colors of the United
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States of America constantly visiting Buenos Aires (this is corroborated by the testimony of contempo- raries, in Mitre's History of General Belgrano), and urges the appointment of a commercial agent or con- sul of the United States of America at that place, which addition he presumed would be "highly pleas- ing to the inhabitants, and sufficiently countenanced by this government to answer all the purposes for which he would be admitted, although the laws would not allow of his being formally admitted." The refer- ence is to the Spanish law of April 24th, 1807, pro- hibiting the residence of foreign consuls in the Spanish colonial dominions of America. The "Reconquista," or reconquest of Buenos Aires from the English by the inhabitants of that city and their army under Liniers, had occurred just three months before De Forest's letter, on July 5th, 1807. William P. White, the citizen of the United States of America to whom we have recently alluded, was appointed by General Whitelocke as commissary, or agent for the British prisoners remaining in the River Plate country.
The New York Evening Post for Monday, February 1 7th, 1806, notes that the United States brig "Ann and Frances," Captain King, had just arrived from the River Plate in eighty-six days, and the issue for November I7th, 1806, states that the United States schooner "Sophrona," Captain Warren, had cleared that day for Buenos Aires from New York City. In the meantime the ship "Hanover" arrived from the
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coast of Patagonia with a cargo of elephant oil at New Bedford, Massachuseets, on May i8th, 1806. In Gore's Liverpool, England, Advertiser for September 25th, 1806, the United States brig "Albion," Captain Littlefield, is advertised to sail for the River Plate, and three other United States merchant vessels — the "Intrepid," Captain Trumbull; the "Lady Carleton," Captain Ritchie; and the "Lancaster," Captain Grif* fin — were about to sail from Liverpool for Buenos Aires. On October 4th, 1 806, Captain Stephens ar- rived in Boston direct from San Sebastian, Brazil, and reported that Sir Home Popham had arrived at Mon- tevideo. On November I3th, 1806, the ship "Ben- gal," Captain Koven, cleared from New York to Buenos Aires ; it belonged to the New York firm of LQW & Wallace. The New York Evening Post for November 7th, 1807, reprints General Whitelock's order of July loth, 1807, at Buenos Aires, and from later issues of the same paper we learn that on No- vember 8th, 1807, the United States brig "Pallas" arrived at Boston from the River Plate. She had left Montevideo on August I4th, 1807. David C. De Forest was there then. He had arrived at Buenos Aires on February loth, 1802, coming overland from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. There were then twelve American ships at Montevideo and twenty at Buenos Aires. On November 9th, 1807, the United States ship "Arrow," Captain Fletcher, of Newburyport, ar- rived at Boston, Massachusetts, from Montevideo,
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having left that city on the previous September 8th. She carried a valuable cargo of the productions of South America. On November 25th, 1807, the United States ship "Palmyra," whose captain was named Whitney, arrived at Charleston, South Caro- lina, from Montevideo, after a voyage of seventy-three days. The United States ship "Olive Branch," of Boston, had arrived at Montevideo two days before the "Palmyra" sailed from that port, and the United States brig "Union," Captain Hussey, of Nantucket, had sailed from Montevideo for the Rio Negro on the coast of Patagonia (presumably for whaling for "ele- phant oil," as the "Hanover," of New Bedford, had done the year previous), shortly before the "Palmyra" had left the River Plate. The "Palmyra" had also left five United States merchant vessels at Montevideo, namely the brig "Eliza Carey" from Providence, Rhode Island, which was about to sail for Botany Bay; the ship "Olive Branch," previously mentioned, whose captain was named King; the ship "Print," Captain Dixey, which was all ready to sail for Boston ; and a ship commanded by Captain Tibbetts, of Wis- casset (now in Maine, then in Massachusetts), which was detained by a Spanish privateer in the Rio de la Plata. The schooner "Sophronia," Captain Warren, of New York, as well as a Philadelphia ship, had shortly before sailed for home, intending to stop on the Brazil coast; we have seen above that she had left New York for Buenos Aires on November iyth,
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1806. The ship "George and Mary," of Newport News, Virginia, had sailed on August I3th, 1807, from Buenos Aires to London.
Thus in the year 1807 there were merchant vessels from five of the thirteen maritime states that then constituted the United States of America — Massa- chusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia — doing business in the River Plate countries; and there was also traffic with a sixth state, South Carolina, to which several vessels returned from River Plate ports ; so we can say that half the maritime and a third of the total number of the United States of America in 1807 had some interest in the River Plate trade. Even the evacuating British squadron, on their way back to England from Buenos Aires, fell in with the United States brig "Sally," Captain Barry, bound from Barcelona to Philadelphia. So that one hundred and ten years ago, the Stars and Stripes was not an unfamiliar sight in the River Plate — while Liniers was at the height of his power, three years before the first step toward Argentine independence had been initiated. In fact, at least one citizen of the United States seems to have had direct relations with Liniers; for the "Palmyra" reported she left De Forest in Montevideo, he having obtained "liberty from General Liniers to attend to one or two suits of law that were pending," as the contemporary reporter of the New York Evening Post phrased it. De Forest was by no means the only one of his countrymen to
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remain in Montevideo; Messrs. Blodget and Childs, of Baltimore, continued there under the privilege granted to them by the court of Spain, though Mr. Wykman, of New York, had taken passage on an English ship for Surinam. The "Palmyra" brought back to Charleston a large quantity of English goods, with which the River Plate market had been glutted after the British occupation of Buenos Aires and
Montevideo. f(
In the year 1808 the Englishman W. Burke wrote lat the United States would emancipate South America if England or France did not, or if the South Americans did not do it by their own efforts ; and in the same year President Thomas Jefferson wrote to Governor Claiborne of the territory of Orleans, at New Orleans, as follows, speaking of Cuba and Mexico : —
We consider their interests and ours as the same, and the object of both must be to exclude all European influence from this hemisphere.
Jefferson again alludes to this idea in his letter to President Madison of April 2/th, 1809, in which he speaks of Napoleon's consenting to the United States " receiving Cuba into our Union to prevent our aid to Mexico and the other provinces"; thus alluding to that assistance on the part of the United States of America to Latin America which was discussed by Congressman James Holland, of North Carolina, in the United States Congress on June Hth, 1808, in the
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course of a debate to appropriate money for the relief of the prisoners held in Venezuela who had taken part in the Miranda expedition of 1806 : —
Sir, had I been a young man, and had nothing else to engage in, I should myself have been happy to join in a number of brave fellows in emanci- pating an enslavened country — and the provinces of South America are in a miserable situation, and there is no danger of worsting them by the change
If they had succeeded in their attempt and lib- erated the provinces (and I hope they will soon become free provinces), they would have been considered the benefactors of mankind ; they would have received the thanks of all the friends of humanity ; but, poor fellows ! they were de- feated. In going with a design to revolutionize the Caracas, they might have gone with patri- otic motives.
Congressman Joseph Pearson, of North Carolina, also spoke, urging the appropriation, which was finally lost by a tie vote. In the course of the dis- cussion, which took up two entire days of the time of the House of Representatives of the United States of America, it appeared that thirty young citizens of that republic had taken part in Miranda's expedition, and that Miranda himself had been a guest of Presi- dent Jefferson at his table in the White House.
On March /th, 1809, Thomas Sumter, of South Carolina, was appointed United States Minister to the Portuguese Court, which had been residing at Rio de
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Janeiro, Brazil, since 1807, when the Portuguese royal family had been expelled from continental Por- tugal by Napoleon's armies. Sumter continued as Minister to Brazil until July 24th, 1819. It was ap- parently between January and June, 1809, that a "seditious proclamation"* was circulated in Buenos Aires (it was sent to the Brigadier of the Royal Navy, Joachim de Molina, who was then in Lima, Peru, on June loth, 1809), one of the paragraphs of which reads as follows : —
The valor with which the English Colonies of America fought for their freedom, which they now gloriously enjoy, covers our indolence with shame. We have yielded them the palm with which they have crowned the New World with an indepen- dent sovereignty. Even France and Spain made efforts to sustain them. The valor of those valiant Americans puts our lack of feeling to shame ; they and England will protest the most just cause of our honor, provoked by outrages which have lasted for three hundred years.
This reads very much like an adaptation of the circu- lar letter of the Peruvian Jesuit father, Vicardo y Guz- man, which, as we have already seen, was begun to be circulated in the Spanish colonies of America in 1791.
In an anonymous letter written about this time to the governor of Montevideo, Frangois Xavier Elio,
* " Facultad de Filosofia y Letras. Section Historia. Docu- mentos Relatives a los antecedents de la Independencia de la Republica Argentina," pp. 268, 269. Buenos Aires, 1912.
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from some person in the interior of Peru (from internal evidence it seems probable that it was written in what is now Bolivia), we read that America should unite in a Central Junta, to be chosen by two oidores (deputies), from each audiencia ; two persons, deputies, from each secular cabildo, two from each ecclesi- astical cabildo; one from each partido ; one from each cabezero de provincia, and one half of the officials, with the qualification that, except the oidores, they shall all be patriots, and that, in addition to those named, as many others with talents or endeavors as may wish to be of service may come. This Junta shall determine which power they shall consider as their protector and guardian of the seas, whether England or the Anglo-Americans, shall be nearest through commercial interests ; and the latter will send makers of all manufactures, whereby the present con- ditions shall be remedied, by which so much money leaves the continent in the form of metal, but rather that it shall only leave in manufactures, and agricul- tural and industrial products. It was also in the year 1809 that Joseph Bonaparte, then king of Spain, caused a paper to be circulated in South America stating that he wished to make South America free and independent of Europe, and that his agents were to hold out the United States as a model to the peo- ple of that continent.
The beginning of the trade of Salem, Massachusetts, with South American ports may be mentioned here.
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Within less than four months after the inauguration of George Washington as President of the United States of America — on August 25th, 1789 — the schooner "Lark" arrived at Salem from Surinam with a cargo of sugar, inaugurating a commerce with that colony which lasted for seventy-one years. Many a cargo of coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton, molasses, or distilled spirits was consigned from Surinam to the old Salem merchant princes, — William Gray, Elias H. Derby, the Crowninshields, Pickmans, Osgoods, Ornes and others of the Golden Book of Salem commerce. In 1799 and again in 1804 there were twelve vessels from Salem to Surinam. The trade with the adjoining colony of Cayenne was started in April, 1798, when the brig "Katy," Nathaniel Brown, master, cleared for that port with a cargo of fish, flour, bacon, butter, oil, tobacco, candles, and potters' ware. Between 1810 and 1877 three hundred vessels arrived at Salem from Cayenne. The foreign trade of Salem closed when the schooner " Mattie F.," belonging to Messrs. C. E. and B. H. Fabens, entered Salem from Cayenne on March 2ist, 1877.
There is no more daringly adventurous story in all the annals of American commerce than these eighty- eight years of Salem' s South American trade. From Surinam and Cayenne the Salem merchants pressed onward down the Brazil coast. In September, 1809, the brig "Welcome Return," Jeremiah Briggs, mas- ter, arrived at Salem, consigned to Josiah Dow, from
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Pernambuco. This Pernambuco trade lasted until 1851. A Salem-owned brig came in from Bahia with molasses in 1819. There were three entries at Salem from Rio de Janeiro in 1810, and the news of the glorious_£V£nts of May 25th, 1810, first reached the United States on a Salem vessel that arrived at that port from Buenos Aires on August 2ist, 1810. The Rio de Janeiro trade continued until 1852. The finest vessel ever built in Salem, "Cleopatra's Barge," built by Mr. George Crowninshield, sailed from Rio de Janeiro on January 3 1st, 1819, for. Salem, Mass., with a cargo of hides, sugar, coffee and tapioca, which she had obtained there in exchange for New England manufactured products. Eight years before, in March, 1811, Mr. Crowninshield's ship "John" had entered Salem from Rio de Janeiro.
The Salem-Buenos Aires trade lasted until August, 1860, when the bark "Salem" returned to her home port for the last time. She was consigned to Mr. James Upton, whose family were prominent in the South American trade for over fifty years. The Up- tons imported large quantities of hides and horns from Montevideo, Uruguay, from 1839 to 1861, though the Salem trade with Montevideo had begun long before that, in June, 1811, when the brig "Hope," Benjamin Jacobs, master, arrived at Salem, consigned to Mr. Thomas H. Perkins, the purpose of whose long and useful life, so much of which was spent in promo- ting Pan-American commerce, has been perpetuated
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in his descendant, Mr. James H. Perkins, who is the vice-president of the first United States bank to open branches in South America. The Salem trade with Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, lasted from 1817 to 1828. From 1824 to 1829 several brigs brought cocoa from Guayaquil — still a port of the Great Colombian Re- public, as Ecuador did not become independent until 1830 — to Salem, where ships also arrived fromCallao and Valparaiso.
The following quotations from Manuel Palacio's "Outline of the Revolution in Spanish America," pub- lished in London in 1817, is of interest as showing the effects of the example of the United States of America on the beginnings of the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1810. It will be remembered that the first outbreak of American independence in that year occurred at Caracas : —
The Congress now turned its attention to that new Constitution which was to insure the liberty of Venezuela. The plan of this Constitution had been formed by Don F. X. Ustariz. He, and many others of the greatest respectability, had intimated from the first their opinion, that, in case of a final separation from Spain, the best form of government to be established in Venezuela was a federal one, of which the United States gave an example. In order to disseminate this opinion, essays, . . . written by one Burke, . . . were in- serted in the Caarcas Gazette for many successive months solely to prove the advantages resulting from this Constitution of the North Americas.
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The American Advertiser of Philadelphia for June 7th, 1810, contains an account of the late revolution in Caracas, in which it states that "the people [of South America] have no other idea than to make themselves independent of every foreign power. In such a cir- cumstance we [of the United States of America] cannot be indifferent spectators." It was also in 1810 that the Venezuelan, Juan German Roscio, secretly made a translation of Thomas Paine's "Rights of Man" (which, as we have already seen, Antonio Narifio knew about sixteen years before in -Bogota, while Miranda had met Paine in the United States twenty- seven years before) and published extracts from it in Caracas in 1811. On June nth, 1810, Juan Vicente de Bolivar and Telesforo de Orea left for the United States of America with instructions to solicit the aid of that country for their compatriots, and in the same month Robert K. Lowry was appointed Marine and Commercial Agent of the United States of America to the provinces of Venezuela, beginning his long and use- ful consul career therein. TOrt June 28th, 1810, Joel Roberts Poinsett was appointed agent for commerce and seaman of the United States of America at the port of Buenos Aires. The following extract from the instructions issued to him by Secretary James Monroe on that day are deserving of careful attention, as show- ing the attitude of the United States of America toward the people of Spanish America in the year that witnessed the beginning of their War of Independence : —
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As a crisis is approaching which must produce great changes in the situation of Spanish America, and may dissolve altogether its colonial relations to Europe, and as the geographical position of the United States, and other obvious consider- ations, give them an intimate interest in whatever may effect the destiny of that part of the American Continent, it is our duty to turn our attention to this important subject, and to take such steps, not incompatible with the neutral character and honest policy of the United States, as the occasion renders proper. With this in view, you have been selected to proceed, without delay, to Buenos Aires. vYou will make it your object, whenever it may be proper, to diffuse the impression that the United States cherish the sincerest good will toward the people of Spanish America as neigh- bors, as belonging to the same portion of the globe and as having a mutual interest in culti- vating friendly intercourse ; that this disposition will exist, whatever may be their internal system or European relation, with respect to which no interference of any sort is pretended ; and that, in the event of a political separation from the parent country, and of the establishment of an inde- pendent system of national government, it will coincide with the sentiments and policy of the United States to promote the most friendly rela- tions, and the most liberal intercourse, between the inhabitants of this hemisphere, as having all a common interest, and as lying under a common obligation to maintain that system of peace, justice, and good will.^which is the only source of happi- ness for nations!]
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Whilst you inculcate these as the principles and • dispositions of the United States, it will be no less proper to ascertain those on the other side, not only towards the United States, but in reference to the great nations of Europe, and to the com- mercial and other connections with them, respec- tively; and, generally, to inquire into the state, the characteristics, and the proportions, as to numbers, intelligence, and wealth, of the several parties, the amount of population, the extent and organization of the military force, and the pecuni- aotj-esources of the country.
j The real as well as ostensible object of your rrmJSfbn is to explain the mutual advantages of commerce with the United States, to promote liberal and stable regulations, and to transmit reasonable information on the subject^ In order that you may render the more servietf'in this re- spect, and that you may, at the same time, enjoy the greater protection and respectability, you will be furnished with a credential letter, such as is held by sundry agents of the United States in the West Indies, and as was lately held by one at Havana, and under the sanction of which you will give the requisite attention to commercial objects.
Two of the remarkable Pan-American expressions of the year 1810 were those of the Argentinian Ber- nardino Rivadavia, and the Chilean Juan Martinez de Rosas. Rivadavia's circular letter of May 28th, 1810, communicating the news of the installation of the first Junta at Buenos Aires, speaks of the union and harmony which should prevail among citizens of the
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same origin, dependence, and interests, and in Rosas' "(Declaration of the Rights of the Chilean People " we find the following striking statements : —
1. The people of Latin America cannot de- fend their sovereignty single-handed ; in order to develop themselves they need to unite, not in an internal organization, but for external security
/ against the plans of Europe, and to avoid wars I among themselves.
2. This does not mean that the European states I are to be regarded as enemies; on the contrary, I the friendly relations with them must be strength- / ened as far as possible.
/ 3. The American states must unite in a con-
/ gress in order to endeavor to organize and to
/ fortify themselves The day when America,
/ united in a congress, whether of the two conti-
/ nents, or of the South, shall speak to the rest of
/ the world, her voice will make itself respected and
\. her resolve would be opposed with difficulty.
^The foregoing was reechoed in the Supreme Junta of Venezuela of April 2/th, 1810, to the authorities of all the American capitals, urging them to contribute to the great work of the Spanish-American Confeder- ation; and their sending Bolivar and Orea so soon afterward to the United States shows that they were also thinking of their sister republic to the north. This is confirmed by the speech of the Colombian patriot Miguel Pombo, in 1810, to the people of Bo- gota, in which he says : " The American voice is raised and it has sworn to avenge the blood of its Franklins and Washingtons.
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It is interesting to note in this connection the many references to the United States of America in the Gazeta de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Gazette) for 1810 and subsequently. The issue of September 27th, 1810, alludes to the freedom of the press in the United States, while that for October 2 5th prints a patriotic song, one verse of which reads as follows, in translation : —
If there was a Washington in the North land, We have many Washingtons in the South ; If arts and commerce have prospered there, —
Courage, fellow countrymen ;
Let us follow their example.
In the issue for November 28th the reader is urged to "listen to Mr. Jefferson, who describes all the parts of such an association for us in his ' Observations on Vir- ginia."' A page of translation from Jefferson follows. As the United States tonnage registered for foreign trade reached its highest point in the first sixty years of that country's independent existence in 1810, when 91.5%, or 981,019 tons, was carried in vessels flying the flag of the United States of America, it is inter- esting to discuss the River Plate phase of this com- merce. Of the 154 vessels entering and 139 clearing from Buenos Aires in 1810, 10% flew the Stars and Stripes. An analysis of some of their cargoes shows the salient features of trade between the United States and Buenos Aires during that memorable year of Ar- gentine independence. On March 4th, 1810, the United States frigate "Walter," Captain Bower, which
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had sailed from Philadelphia January 8th, 1810, called at Montevideo on her way to Canton, China, and on the same day the United States bark "Apollo," Capt William Bragg, arrived at Montevideo after a twenty- three-days' sail from Rio de Janeiro, in ballast, con- signed to Don Manuel Ortega. On March i/th, 1810, the United States frigate "Voltaire" arrived at Buenos Aires from Philadelphia, via Montevideo, having sailed from Philadelphia on January 8th, and from Montevideo on March I4th. Her cargo con- sisted of sixty-five cases of crockery, twenty cases of colored cotton goods, six small cases of linen goods, three cases of fine linen, nine boxes of canvas, two boxes of towels, three cases of handkerchiefs and five cases of Russian cloths. She was consigned to Don Jose Juan de Larramendi. On June 2Oth, 1810, the United States frigate "George and Mary" arrived at Buenos Aires from Providence, Rhode Island. She had sailed thence on April Qth, 1810. She brought out 1 08 cases of furniture, fifty-seven dozen wooden chairs, fifteen wooden settees, twenty-six bales of nan- keens, five trunks of boots and shoes, two cases of cotton goods, and one case each of fans, combs and paper. The Rhode Islanders did not confine them- selves to cotton goods and furniture alone in their Buenos Aires shipments. It had only been twenty years since Samuel Slater and Moses Brown had set up the first cotton mills in Rhode Island. Moses Brown had been a part owner in the "Mary Ann,"
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Captain Daniel Olney, which, as we have seen above, visited Buenos Aires in 1802. Perhaps the 367 small cases of liquors, the ten barrels containing cider in bottles, and the thirty cases of salt fish had been as- sembled by Brown & Ives in Providence from their vessels, which traded in many seas, before the "George and Mary" brought them to Buenos Aires. This vessel seems to have been the first to regularly ply between the United States and the River Plate. She was consigned to Don Ventura Miguel Morco del Pont, whose descendants still flourish in Buenos Aires, and who dispatched her for Providence on September 6th, 1810, with 8,200 horse hides, 4,900 steer hides and 1,900 cow hides, as well as 628 arrobas of sheep's wool, 6,68 1 dozen otter (nutria) skins, 2,480 deer skins, four dozen vizcacha skins, and 280 dozen dog skins, as wells as forty puma skins, sixty casks of tal- low and 488 arrobas of horse hair. Maryland was not behind Rhode Island in the Argentine trade in 1810 — what would Captain Timothy Pardener of the good ship "Fame," which arrived at Buenos Aires on August i $th, 1810, from Baltimore, have said had he known that a hundred and seven years later a Japanese vessel had made the same journey? The "Fame" brought out dry goods, rope, iron, saddles, beer, Malaga wine, glass, furniture and shoes. New York sent out the frigate "Valentine," Captain Ben- jamin Chase, which arrived at Buenos Aires on August 1 4th, 1810; she had sailed from New York on May
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23rd. Most of her cargo was comprised of 5,275 pine boards, with 1,040 chairs and a trunk of boots, and thirty pipes and a barrel of Geneva, — in which the patriots may have toasted the new and glorious nation arising on the banks of the River Plate.
On January I5th, 1811, the Congress of the United States of America, acting in response to a secret message of President Madison regarding the occupa- tion of the Floridas, passed in secret session a reso- lution which recited that: —
Taking into view the peculiar situation of Spain and of her American provinces ; and considering the influence which the destiny of the territory adjoining the southern border of the United States may have on their security, tranquillity, and commerce, —
Resolved, That the United States, under the peculiar circumstances of the existing crises, can- not, without serious inquietude, see any part of the said territory pass into the hands of any foreign power ; and that a due regard to their own safety compels them to provide, under certain contin- gencies, for the temporary occupation of the said territory
A few months before this Thomas Sumter had been received at Petropolis by the Prince Regent, Joao VI, as United States Minister. On April 3Oth, 1811, Joel Roberts Poinsett, of South Carolina, who, as we have seen, had been appointed agent for commerce and seamen in the port of Buenos Aires on June
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28th, 1810, was given a new commission as Consul- General of the United States of America to Buenos Aires, Peru and Chile. At the time of the adoption of the Venezuelan Declaration of Independence, on July 5th, 1811, we find the patriot Francisco Javier Yanes (whose illustrious grandson, as assistant direc- tor of the Pan-American Union, has so worthily main- tained the family's Pan-American reputation), urging his colleagues to declare their independence on July 4th, as by doing so they would follow the example of their brothers in North America. .On July 3Oth, 1811, the Confederation of Venezuela issued a mani- festo from the Federal Palace at Caracas of the reasons which influenced them in the formation of absolute independence, in which the United States of America is referred to. When the Argentine envoys, Belgrano and Echevarria, bade good-bye to Dr. Francia, the famous dictator and liberator of Paraguay, on October I2th, 1811, he offered them a handsome steel engraving of Franklin that hung in his study. "This is the first Democrat in the world and the model we should imitate," he said, when he presented it to Echevarria. The Argentineans noticed that Francia seemed to know something of the War of Independence of the United States of America.
With these growing inter-American relations it is only natural that President Madison should speak as follows in his message to Congress of November 5th, 1811, — in words so feelingly alluded to by the late
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Emilio Mitre on the occasion of Secretary Root's visit to Buenos Aires in 1906: —
In contemplating the scenes which distinguish this momentous epoch, and estimating their claim to our attention, it is impossible to overlook those developing themselves among the great communi- ties which occupy the southern portion of our hemisphere, and extend into our neighborhood. An enlarged philanthropy and an enlightened forecast concur in imposing on the national coun- cils an obligation to take a deep interest in their destinies, to cherish reciprocal sentiments of good- will, to regard the progress of events, and not be unprepared for whatever order of things may be ultimately established.
This was a message sent to a special session of Con- gress that was called to discuss matters connected with the impending war with England ; and it is all the more noteworthy, as signifying the interest felt by one of the greatest United States statesmen in the destinies of our South American neighbors at this
moment of national stress.
•*•
Before this message had been sent to Congress Secretary Monroe had received from the agent from Venezuela, Telesforo de Orea, a copy of the act of Venezuelan independence ; and he seems to have been also aware of the progress of the revolutionary move- ment in other parts of Latin America.
On November I2th, 1811, "such portion of the President's message as referred to South America"
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was referred to a committee of the House of Repre- sentatives, consisting of Samuel L. Mitchill, of New York; William Blackledge, of North Carolina; Wil- liam W. Bibb, of Georgia; Epaphroditus Champion, of Connecticut; William Butler, of South Carolina; Samuel Taggert, of Massachusetts; and Samuel Shaw> of Vermont.
As it was Mitchill who was the first, so far as can be ascertained, to offer in a foreign legislative body a resolution of sympathy with the struggling Latin- American countries, some account of his life may be of interest. Samuel Latham Mitchill was born at North Hamstead, Long Island, August 2Oth, 1764, and died in New York City on September 7th, 1831. Educated at the University of Edinburgh, few mem- bers of any Congress have won permanent fame in as many useful branches of public service as he. His chemical, geological, and scientific studies were prac- tical as well as theoretical; he was undoubtedly the originator of the idea of harnessing the water power of Niagara Falls, and he accompanied Fulton on the first voyage of the "Clermont." He founded the first medical journal in the United States, and was often alluded to as the "Nestor of American Science." An interesting letter from Jeremy Robinson, who had re- cently been agent of the United States of America at Lima, Peru, to Mitchill from Valparaiso, Chile, in 1820, is printed on page 43, Vol. XIX, of Niles's Register.
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It is extremely probable that Mit during the latter' s sojourn in New possible that he saw Bolivar on his > tober, 1806.
His memorable resolution, offer loth, 181 1, was as follows :• —
lill met Miranda York City, and sit there in Oc-
ton December
WHEREAS, Several of the American Spanish Provinces have represented to the United States that it has been found expedient for them to associate and form federal governments upon the elective and representative plan, and to declare themselves free and independent; Therefore be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the United States of America in Con- gress assembled, That they behold with friendly interest, the establishment of independent sov- ereignties by the Spanish Provinces in America, consequent upon the actual state of monarchy to which they belong ; that as neighbors and inhab- itants of the same hemisphere, the United States feel great solicitude for their welfare ; and that, when these Provinces shall have attained the con- ditions of nations, by the just exercise of their rights, the Senate and House will unite with the Executive in establishing with them, as sovereign and independent states, such amicable relations and commercial intercourse as may require their legislative authority.
With such friendly resolutions before Congress, it is therefore no wonder that the commissioners from the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata (now Argen- tina), Diego de Saavedra and Juan Pedro de Aguirre,
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who were ordered on June 5th, 1811, by the Junta Gubernativa of Buenos Aires, then the executive au- thority thereof, to proceed to the United States to buy arms and inform the United States Government of the Argentine desire for independence, and after sailing, at the end of July, 1811, arrived at Washing- ton on October 25th, 1811. They wrote to Secretary James Monroe on February 5th, 1812, of the "liber- ality with which they had been treated by the Gov- ernment and inhabitants of the United States," whose "favorable disposition to the cause w.hich our Gov- ernment maintains, is marked by our gratitude and respect," while Carrera, then dictator of Chile, re- marked on February loth, 1812, on receiving Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first representative of the United States of America in Chile, as follows: "That power [the United States] attracts all our attentions and our attachments. You may safely assure it of the sincerity of our friendly sentiments."
Poinsett sincerely and frankly replied that " the Americans of the North generally take the greatest interest in the success of these countries, and ardently wish for the happiness and prosperity of their brothers to the south. I will make known to the Government of the United States the friendly sentiments of Your Excellency, and I felicitate myself on having been the first who had the honorable charge of establishing re- lations between two generous nations, who ought tc consider themselves as friends and natural allies."
INTER-AMERICAN ACQUAINTANCES
As soon as news reached the United States of the terrible earthquake at Caracas, Venezuela, of March 26th, 1812, the sympathies of the people were aroused and manifested in various ways, of which the prompt action by Congress is an example. On May 4th, 1812, a law was passed authorizing the President to expend $50,000 to purchase a quantity of provisions and present them to the government of Venezuela- on behalf of the United States. Alexander Scott was appointed on March 2ist, 1812, political or diplo- matic agent to Venezuela in South America, and continued in the employment of the United States Government in that capacity until May 3ist, 1813. He remained in Caracas until March, 1813, when he was compelled by the Spanish authorities to leave the country. He arrived at La Guaira on June 22nd, 1812, the five vessels in which the flour and other provisions were sent coming soon afterwards. So far as can be ascertained this was the first congressional appropriation of its kind, and is all the more note- worthy as occurring when the United States was on the brink of war with England, when every penny available was being used for hostile purposes. This sum would probably represent nearly $120,000 now. John C. Calhoun, later Vice-President and Secretary of both the State and War Departments of the United States of America, was very active in securing the passage of this bill, having the amount raised from $30,000 to $50,000, thus evidencing the Pan-Ameri- canism that characterized his long and useful life.
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Ten years later Captain Bache, of the United States army, became acquainted in Bogota with the officer who had received this "timely offering." " He reverts, at every proper occasion, to the circumstance, with a fervor which proves that his gratitude has not been cooled with the lapse of time." Five years later the South American Manuel Palacio wrote: "It was only by the liberality of the Congress of the United States that the few whom the earthquake spared did not perish by famine"; and the Mexican Mier, writing at the end of July, 1812, says: "We have learnt with pleasure that the United States have sent aid to Venezuela after the earthquake, — $ 5 0,000, and pro- visions of all kinds, — as well as arms and ammunition to Buenos Aires." The last part of the foregoing sentence refers to the mission of Diego de Saavedra and Juan Pedro de Aguirre to the United States. One of their letters to Secretary Monroe has already been quoted. They returned to Buenos Aires from the United States on May I5th, 1812, having been conducted through the Spanish blockade of the Rio de la Plata by Captain David Seccht of the American frigate "St. Michael." They brought a thousand guns with them, which they had obtained in the United States through the agency of Secretary of State James Monroe. Apparently in July of 1812, the matrons of Buenos Aires met and offered to raise the money to pay for these arms and munitions of war by subscription. Maria Eugenia de Escalada, the half
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sister of General Jose de San Martin's wife, took a prominent part in this patriotic endeavor and con- tributed two ounces of gold thereto. It will be re- membered that San Martin had landed from Europe just before March, 1812, and that consequently these arms from the United States must have been among the first with which his army was equipped.
The Gazeta de Buenos Aires, to which we have already alluded, contains many references to the United States and to Pan-American matters in gen- eral from the date of its beginning in 1810. We have already seen that in the issue for November 28th, 1810, a page of translation of President Jefferson's "Observations on Virginia" is printed, and the num- ber for September loth, 1812, mentioned the arrival of the United States ship "Laura" that had left Bos- ton^ on the 4th of the previous April. / Writing in London in August, 1812, the Mexican vMier mentions that "Anglo-Americans have arrived in Chile with a printing-press and guns," — both use- ful at this critical stage in the Chilean struggle for independence. The printing-press had arrived at Valparaiso from New York on November 24th, 1811, on the United States ship "Galloway," which also brought three printers — Samuel Burr Johnston, Wil- liam H. Burbidge and Simon Garrison — from that country to set the new industry in operation. John- ston was made a Chilean citizen in March, 1814, be- cause of his "noteworthy merit, services, and zeal for
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freedom," — one of the first foreigners on whom Chilean citizenship was conferred. His exploits in the Chilean navy will be enumerated in a later chapter. One of the first efforts of this printing-press was to publish the first Chilean newspaper, the Aurora, which lasted from February, 1812, to April 1st, 1813; and it had many opportunities of chronicling news from its native country therein. Almost every number published in 1812 contains some reference or allusion to the United States. On the L3th of February, 1813, it mentions the arrival of the United States frigate " Me- lantho," Captain Richard R. Boughan, with a cargo of linen goods and canvas ; and in the issue for March 2nd we find notices of books published in the United States, as well as a detailed account of the reception of United States Consui-General Poinsett, by Jose Miguel Carrera, then dictator of Chile. In the next number, that for March 5th, Matias A. Hoevel, a naturalized citizen of the United States of America, of Swedish birth, petitions the Chilean Government to suspend actual operation of the Reglamento de Comercio for February 2ist, 1811, for a little while, so that business men from the United States can take full advantage thereof. On March I2th we find a description of a new printing-press recently invented in the United States, and in an editorial on March 1 9th, the editor, that indefatigable early Pan-Ameri- can, Camilo Enriquez, urges that books be brought from the United States, especially grammars and die-
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tionaries, so that the people of Chile may learn English. John Quincy Adams's speech of July 4th, 1811, in Washington, is translated and printed in this number. Just as we find later that the people of Buenos Aires learned of Bolivar's activities through the United States newspapers, so on April 2nd, 1812, extracts from papers from Boston regarding Caracas appeared in the Aurora of Santiago de Chile, which also printed a translation of Jefferson's Inaugural on November loth, 1812, and Washington's Farewell Address in its issues for December loth and i/th. The fourth of July, 1812, was enthusiastically celebrated at Santiago de Chile. The government took " every imaginable interest," and a Pan-American hymn was sung in the streets, a stanza of which reads : —
Al Sud Fuerte le extiende sus Brazos La Patria Ilustre de Washington ; El Nuevo Mundo todo se reune En eterna Confederacion.
[The illustrious fatherland of Washington extends her arms to the strong South ; all the New World unites in an eternal confederation.]
We called Camilo Enriquez a Pan-American just now; if he had done nothing else to justify this title, surely the foregoing stanza which he wrote indicates his Pan-American views. Later in his useful life (1768-1825), when in exile in Buenos Aires in 1817, he wrote a play, the scene of which is laid in Phila- delphia. The Chilean historian Amunategui says of him that "the brilliant perspective of the great re- public of the United States was always his model."
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«.
One of the last numbers of the Aurora, that of March i8th, 1813, mentions the arrival of the U. S. S. "Essex," Captain David Porter, at Valparaiso. There was some United States shipping to look after on the west coast of South America then. Four American whalers had arrived at Talcuahuano early in Febru- ary, 1813, and in the previous year twenty-six of them, mostly from Massachusetts, were off the coasts of Peru and Chile. Captain David Porter sailed in the U. S. S. "Essex," forty -six guns, from the capes of the Delaware on October 28th, 1812. The "Essex" was built in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, in 1799, not far from where there was then playing as a child another American destined to be famous in Chileari history, — William Wheelwright.
After passing the straits of La Maire on February 26th, Captain Porter found himself about twenty miles from the coast of Chile ; and on the morning of the I 5th of March he entered the harbor of Valparaiso. We will quote his own words as to his reception there : —
Before I got to anchor the captain of the port, accompanied by another officer, came on board in the Governor's barge, with an offer of every civility, assistance, and accommodation, that Val- paraiso could afford ; and to my astonishment, I was informed that they had shaken off all their allegiance to Spain ; that the ports of Chile were open to all nations ; that they looked up to the United States of America for example and pro-
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tection ; that our arrival would be considered the most joyful event, as their commerce had been much harassed by corsairs from Peru, sent out by the Viceroy of that province, to capture and send in for adjudication all American vessels destined for Chile, and that five of them had disappeared from before the port only a few days before my arrival, and had captured several American whal- ers, and sent them to Lima.
The affair of the salute was arranged, and, after anchoring, I saluted the town with twenty-one guns, which were punctually returned; immedi- ately after which I waited on the Governor, Don Francisco Lastra, who gave me the most friendly, and at the same time unceremonious reception. On my passing the American armed brig "Colt," she fired a salute of nine guns^which was returned _by the "Essex" by seven. II had not been long witn the Liovernor, before I Discovered that I had, happily for my purpose, goLamonfr staunch re- publicans', nfen filled with *^vn1nfionary prinriplf^ a*hd apparently desirous ^f ^^hlinriing n fnrm of government founded orT liberty. The captain of the port, whose name I do not recollect, was a sterling, honest patriot, and spoke his sentiments boldly ; he evidently felt as those should feel who are determined to be free ; appeared sensible they had yet much to do ; and I am sure was resolved to do his utmost to emancipate his country.
A courier was immediately dispatched, by the American vice and deputy Consul, to Santiago, the capital of Chile, to inform Mr. Poinsett, the American Consul-General, of our arrival in the port of Valparaiso.
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When we first arrived, a few boats came off with fruit ; in a few hours our supply was abundant Nothing could exceed the excellence and abun- dance of the apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, melons, onions, potatoes and vegetables of every description. The potatoes are superior in size and quality to those of any other country, and are indigenous. Tons of the foregoing articles were sold to our people, which were laid by as a sea stock, as well as hogs and poultry in great num- bers, and of the best qualities ; the fowls are of the largest size. No part of the world could have afforded us a more ample supply of everything we wanted of the provision kind. The flour and bread were of a very superior quality, and could be procured in any quantities without difficulty. All the dry provisions were put up in hides ; the flour was better secured in them and more closely packed than it could possibly be in barrels; and, although much heavier, we found them more manageable. The use they make of hides is as- tonishing ; the most of the furniture for their mules and horses, and their houses, on some parts of their coast, even their boats, or as they are called, balsas are made of this article. It is used for every purpose to which it is possible to apply it, either whole, cut in pieces or in long strips. When used for balsas, two hides each, cut some- thing in the form of a canoe, with the seams upward, are blown up by means of a reed, and stopped together; a piece of board is then laid across to sit on, and on this frail machine they venture a considerable distance to sea. The laque, for the use of which the Chileans are so
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i
famous, is formed of a very long strip of hide, with a running noose, and their dexterity in using it, in catching animals at full speed, is surprising. Every pack-horseman and driver of a jackass is furnished with one of them; and so much do they delight in them, or in showing their dexterity, that when they wish to catch any one of their drove, either to load, unload, or for any other purpose, they take their distance, deliberately coil up their laque, and never fail of throwing it over the neck of the animal wanted.
On the I /th, Captain Munson, of the American brig in port, arrived from Santiago, bringing me a letter from the Consul-General, inviting myself and officers, in the name of the Government of Chile, to visit the capital, and informed us that horses and every other convenience were provided for on the road. Captain Munson was also de- sired by the Consul to inform me that the Presi- dent and Junta, with a large military escort, would meet us at a considerable distance from the city, and that, in a political view, they considered our arrival as the most happy event. Captain Munson stated that the bells had been rung the whole day, and illuminations had taken place the evening after our arrival was announced, and that it was generally believed that I had brought from my country nothing less than proposals for a friendly alliance with Chile, and assurance of assistance in their struggle for independence. This idea I felt no disposition to do away with.
Agreeably to the Governor's invitation, we at- tended his party, where we found a much larger and more brilliant assemblage of ladies than we
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could have expected in Valparaiso. We found much fancy and considerable taste displayed in their dress, and many of them very handsome, both in person and in face ; their complexion re- markably fine, and their manners modest and at- tracting. With their grace, their beauty of person and complexion, and with their modesty, we were delighted, and could almost fancy we had gotten amongst our own fair countrywomen.
After all was over, " we returned on board our ship, pleased with the novelties of a Chilean ball, and much gratified by the solicitude shown by- every one to make our stay among them agreeable." Before the "Essex" left Valparaiso, which Porter describes as "pleasantly situated, and has a considerable com- merce," Luis Carrera, " a spirited youth about twenty- two years of age," the brother of the President, dined on the "Essex" with Consul-General Poinsett and Consul Haywell, the representatives of the United States of America in Chile. The night before sailing the Governor of Valparaiso entertained them with a dinner and ball, and "the night was spent with much hilarity." It is interesting to note that Admiral David Glasgow Farragut was with Porter at this time, as a midshipman, only thirteen years old.
The Seminario Repulicano was also published at Santiago de Chile at this time. It was founded and conducted by Camilo Enriquez and Antonio Jose de Irisarri, who afterwards died in Brooklyn. In its first number, for October 3Oth, 1813, we find "examples
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of tolerance of Madison, Jefferson and Washington," and in the issue for November loth, a version of a hymn called "Hail, Great Republic of the World!" which the Seminario states was the national hymn of the United States of America, dedicated to the people of Buenos Aires. But the Gazeta de Buenos Aires had not been behind its Chilean contemporary in in- forming the public in general about the United States of America during the year 1813. The numbers for July 28th and August 4th, 1813, contain a long dis- sertation on the duties and functions of the Executive Power in the United States. The number for August 1 8th, 1813, quotes Chief Justice Marshall at length. On October 6th, 1813, the good people of Buenos Aires read in their Gazeta Ministerial a long transla- tion from the New York Evening Post of the preced- ing June 2 1st, which stated that "According to a letter from Cadiz, dated April I3th, the Spaniards complain that the United States approve of the revo- lutionary spirit that abounds in the American Domin- ions, and that we have openly recognized the rights that those countries have to revolt." The number for December 1st, 1813, quotes from Fisher Ames: "Those who govern should remember that to pre- serve a free government a supine security is almost treason. ' '
On February 2nd, 1813, a Spanish translation of Washington's Farewell Address was published at Buenos Aires; the translation was made by no less a
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person than General Manuel Belgrano, who stated in his Preface thereto that the Farewell Address first came into his hands about the year 1805; that he undertook to translate it himself, but it was lost with all his papers in "his dangerous and hasty Combat of March 9th, 1811, at Tacuari"; thereupon, as he was "anxious that the lessons of the American Hero might be propagated among us," he received another copy from the hands of David C. De Forest ; and the American Dr. Redhead, who was also then living in Buenos Aires, assisted him in the translation. He alludes to Washington as "that Hero worthy of the admiration of our Age and of the Generations to come, example of moderation and of true patriotism, who bade farewell to his fellow-citizens, on leaving office, giving them the most important and salutary lessons ; and in speaking of them, I speak of all those we have about us, and with all those who may have the glory to call themselves Americans." He also states that "I merely wish to beseech the Govern- ment, my fellow-citizens and ah1 who think of the happiness of America, not to separate this little Book from their pockets. Let them read, study and medi- tate on it, and determine to imitate that great man, so that we may arrive at the end to which we as- pire,— to constitute ourselves into a free and inde- pendent Nation."
The letter of Juan Manuel de Luca to the Vice- Consul of the United States of America in Buenos
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Aires, William Gilchrist Miller, dated February roth, 1813, is of interest at this stage of our narrative : —
On the 3 1st of last month the General As- sembly was installed, which was announced to the .free provinces within our limits on October 23rd last, having been recognized and sworn to worthily and with all solemnity.
The status of legitimate and sovereign repre- sentation to which these provinces have been raised by common vote, presents to-day the most happy occasion of assuring your Excellency that, its national form having been created, by order of my Government I have the honor to communi- cate to you that his Excellency desires nothing so greatly as to initiate with those free countries of North America those commercial relations of mutual interest and frankness which open the channels to industry and prosperity of States, more indeed in those in whose origin is seen the same principles which have governed our political regeneration. I have the honor to communicate such a noteworthy event to you, assuring you at the same time that my Government instructs me to extend every consideration to you, who are so worthy of your representative character.
I have the honor to be, Your very obedient servant, JUAN MANUEL DE LUCA,
Secretary of the Ad interim Government.
A week later, on February i/th, 1813, we find de Luca sending a similar notification to United States Consul Poinsett in Chile. The Argentine historian Palomeque, commenting on this, states that "the
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directors of the Argentine Revolution had formed such an opinion of the worth of North America [the United States of America] that they were already seeking their alliance in 1813."
On July 2 1st, 1813, the triumvirate, — Nicolas Rodriguez Pena, Jose Julian Perez, and Antonio A. Gomez, — developed the foregoing ideas of Secre- tary Luca in the following important dispatch to President Madison: —
Since the cry of freedom resounded on the wide shores of the Rio de la Plata, men accustomed to forecast events justly flattered themselves that the great people of the United States of North America would never be indifferent to the eman- cipation and prosperity of these Colonies. As they were starting on the same career which those had gloriously completed, and considering the identity of interests and reciprocity of relations, they hoped to make the first announcement to them and to request their protection abroad, as the other pow- ers were almost exclusively occupied in the ruin- ous continental war in which they were engaged, and were under various forms of tyranny and European ambition. Unfortunately the vacilla- tions and uncertainties which necessarily accom- pany the transition from one government to another in countries long enslaved took place in these Provinces ; and did not allow what should have been the proper result of that great event to take place, — to establish direct relations with your country; a new obstacle which has embar- rassed and frustrated the best of our intentions
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having arisen, — the recent breaking off the rela- tions between the United States and England.
But finally the love of freedom overcame oppo- sition, triumphed successfully over its enemies, and after a constant series of victories, has pro- duced order, which will assure the results of our glorious Revolution. As the general constituent Assembly of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata has been opened, and the Executive Authority constituted on bases none the less firm because they are liberal, and the great cause of those who sustain the rights of the people against the impious doctrine of those who endeavor to submit them to the proscription and the exclusive interests of Kings, will succeed by the declaration of independence in these southern hemispheres.
In circumstances which are, therefore, happy, this Government has the honorable and cordial pleasure of announcing to your Excellency its permanent installation, and of conveying to the honorable American Congress, through the most worthy medium of your Excellency, its highest prospect and sentiments of friendship.
The dispositions which arise from the analogy of political principles and the indubitable charac- teristics of a national sympathy, should prepare a fraternal alliance which would truly unite the Americans of the North and South forever, caus- ing the Congress of the United States and the Constituent Assembly of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata to adopt the basis of social compatibility to its full extent to show through its results that between the Governments of the two Americas there exist neither the lugubrious dis-
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tinctions which separate morality from politics, or the artificial manipulations of the ministries of the Old World
Will your Excellency be pleased to accept the assurances and the testimony of the highest con- sideration of this Government?
May God guard your Excellency many years. JOSE JULIAN PEREZ, ANTONIO A. GOMEZ, NICOLAS RODRIGUEZ PENA.
Buenos Aires, July 21, 1813.
To the very honorable President of the United States of North America, Washington.
On the sixth anniversary of the first step toward Argentine independence, in the issue of May 25th, 1816, the following interesting announcement is made in the Gazeta de Buenos Aires : —
We believe that we did not remember to men- tion on this day the events in the United States. America is the common fatherland of every Amer- ican against the oppression of the monarchs of Europe, and Washington, although he was born of the north of this part of the globe, is also a fel- low-countryman of those who were born in the south. Besides, the revolution in the United States is a finished picture, and a masterpiece of wisdom and virtue ; ours is still in the workmen's hands.
Buenos Aires received its news of what Bolivar and other patriots were accomplishing in Colombia, and
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what is now the Republic of Venezuela, by way of the United States, as well as their information about Mexico. Thus the issue of March i6th, 1814, quotes a long extract from the Boston Gazette of September 1 6th, 1813, "which has just reached us," about a let- ter from Curacao, dated August 8th, 1813, concerning the recent patriotic victories in Venezuela. Again, in the issue of July 6th, 1816 (three days before the Congress of Tucuman met and consolidated the liber- ties of the strong young Argentine provinces), the latest news from Cartagena appeared, culled from papers in the United States. The issue of August 3 1st, 1816, reprints the famous letter of December 3 1st, 1815, from the Viceroy of Mexico to the Spanish Government, in which he speaks of the policy of the United States of America, of their interest in the emancipation of the Mexican provinces and in up- lifting them by its system. When, on October I9th, 1816, a ship arrived from Philadelphia in the record time of two months and five days, bearing important news from Mexico, a special number of the Gazeta Ordinaria was prepared.
In the issue for November 2Oth, 1815, we read the following extract from the London Chronicle of Sep- tember 8th, 1815 : "Morelos has established an active and sure means of communicating with the United States. Parties of American volunteers have pene- trated into the interior provinces of New Spain, and have given a great impulse to the revolution of that
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country. Don Pedro Gual, Commissioner of the independent government of New Granada, has just arrived at New York. We know that the Washington Government is trying to facilitate the export of arms to Spanish America, and that the independent flag of that country is cordially received in the United States." President Madison's message to Congress of September 2Oth, 1814, is reprinted in the issue for February 1st, 1815, with the following comment: " The following message of Mr. Madison to the United States Congress is a state paper which should be published for various reasons, as it gives an exact idea of the condition of that country, and its great re- sources." On April 6th, 1816, the indefatigable De Forest advertises for sale "A Concise History of the United States of America, from its origin to the year 1807." Possibly some copies of this book were used by those responsible for the memorable Declaration of Argentine Independence at Tucuman, on July 9th, 1816. This was a translation of the third edition of a book published in Philadelphia in 1812, by Manuel Garcia de Sena, the Colombian. The Preface is dated November 2Oth, 181 1, and the exact title is "Historia Concisa de los Estados Unidos desde el Descubrimi- ento de la America hasta el ano de 1807." ^^
Though Chilean journalism of that time enjoyed a precarious and infrequent existence, it made various references to the United States. The Aurora, from which we have previously quoted, was succeeded by
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the Monitor Araucano, which lasted from April 6th, 1813, until after the defeat of the Chilean patriot army at Rancagua, its last issue appearing on Sep- tember 3Oth, 1814. President Madison's message to the United States Congress on the war with England was printed in the numbers for July 2Oth and 22nd, 1813, and another of his messages appeared in the issue for April 22nd, 1814. That for April iQth, mentions the victory of the United States troops over General Proctor and the destruction of the British fleets on Lakes Ontario and Erie by the United States navy. Later, even the Royalist Gazeta del Gobiemo de Chile turned to President Madison for inspiration. Even though all the Auroras and Monitor Araucanos were ordered to be confiscated on January loth, 1815, the Gazeta printed President Madison's mes- sage to Congress on the continuation of the war with England in its numbers for July 27th and August 3rd, 1815. It must have been news ; but the war with Eng- land had been over for six months when it was printed. On January 2nd, 1814, in a speech made in honor of Simon Bolivar at Caracas, the Governor of Caracas stated that —
.... a thousand glorious events make the liberator of Venezuela a hero worthy of being placed by the side of the immortal Washington ; and to a certain degree he has added to his valor and military skill the wisdom and policy of his companion, Franklin.
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The president of the municipality, Juan Antonio Rodriguez Dominguez, in his speech referred to Washington as the "tutelary genius of the freedom of the United States of the North." On this same occasion Domingo Alzuru, well known for the perse- cutions inflicted on him by the Spaniards, and for his exalted patriotism, stated that —
.... we have a hero .... whose name will be written in all the cultured nations of the Uni- verse on a par with that of Washington, and among those of Franklin, Brutus, Decius, Cassius, and Cimbrius.
This ceremony was that through which Bolivar was popularly recognized as dictator for such time as suf- ficed to affirm the freedom of the fatherland. One of the most interesting phases of the Pan-Americanism of this period is the relations between the national hero of Uruguay, Jose Artigas, and the United States of America. They are exemplified in the following letter from Artigas to President James Monroe, dated at Purificacion, September 1st, 1817: —
MOST EXCELLENT SIR :
I had the honor to communicate, in the first instance, with Mr. Thomas Lloyd Halsey, Consul of the United States in these provinces, and I have to congratulate myself on so fortunate an incident. I have tendered to him my respects and all my services ; and I will avail myself of this favorable occasion of presenting my most cordial respects to your Excellency.
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The various events of the Revolution have hitherto deprived me of the opportunity of ac- cording this duty with my wishes. I pray your Excellency to be pleased to accept them, now that I have the honor to offer them to you, with the same sincerity that I strive to promote the public weal and the glory of the Republic. All my efforts are directed to their support, aided by the sacrifices of thousands of my fellow-citizens. May heaven grant our wishes.
In that event I shall still more warmly renew to your Excellency the assurance of my cordial regard, and of the high consideration with which I have the honor to be, most Excellent Sir, your Excellency's most obedient, respectful and con- stant servant
JOSE ARTIGAS.
Consul Halsey was an interesting pioneer of United States interests and influence in the River Plate. His home was in Providence, Rhode Island. Appointed Consul in Buenos Aires by President Madison in May, 1813, he did not arrive there until the end of that year ; he continued in office until about January 24th, 1818, the four years of his incumbency being critically historical ones for the country of his official residence. He was a man of somewhat impulsive character, well- intentioned and at times far-seeing, who had very strong ideas on the importance of increasing the prestige of his country in the River Plate countries. He was engaged in business throughout his Consul- ship, as the Buenos Aires consulate did not become
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one of career until long afterward. Possibly through these business connections he seems to have been on bad terms with his fellow-countryman David C. De Forest.
Although Halsey is still commendingly referred to in Argentina as having introduced various useful breeds of sheep into that country,* he seems have in- curred the displeasure of the Argentine Government at the time of his official residence therein by taking an active part in various political matters, though this very activity doubtless made him friends among the people of Buenos Aires. From various indirect sources it seems highly probable that Halsey offered Artigas asylum in the United States of America, especially as the report that he did so occurs per- sistently in Uruguayan historical writings. From the somewhat fragmentary correspondence on file in the Department of State at Washington from him, he seems to have been interested in Uruguayan affairs.
Further evidences of Artigas's fondness for the United States may be seen in the "Memoria of Don Ramon Caceres on Historic Events in Uruguay," dated Rio Grande do Sul, August 9th, 1850, in which he states that "at the beginning we all took the United States as a model," and also on page 265, where he states: "We were proud of the many sons of distin- guished families fighting among us, speaking of this
*See Mulhall's "English in the River Plate"; also Volume III of the Argentine Agricultural Census of 1908, pp. 65, 66.
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matter in the presence of worthy foreigners, envoys of North America," etc. On December i6th, 1856, Ramon de Caceres wrote to Bartolome' Mitre as fol- lows : —
Replying to your questions as explicitly as I can, I will add that Artigas had a great fondness for the North Americans, the agents of whose gov- ernment he often had near him, and some of the officers which Jose Miguel Carrera brought out for his enterprise against Chile served under Arti- gas's orders ; among them was an artillery captain called Henry Kennedy, a young man full of merit ; and I have been assured that he still lives near Mendoza, sightless, for a bullet struck out both his eyes in the Civil War.
There is a curious reference in a dispatch of John Murray Forbes, agent of the United States at Buenos Aires, to the Department of State on December 4th, 1820, to the effect that Halsey had furnished Artigas with arms and had personal correspondence with him. Such action is wholly in accordance with his dispatch to Secretary Monroe of November /th, 1815, urging the United States to loan money and arms to Argen- tina, and on July 3rd, 1816, six days before the memorable Congress at Tucuman, he writes again to the Department of State in a similar strain. Before waiting for any authorization or instructions, so far as can be ascertained, he guaranteed a loan made by who was also a citizen of the Fnited States of America, to the Argentine Govern-
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ment ; and it would seem that he had a perfect right to do this in his private business capacity, which was often, as in the case of other United States consular representatives at that time, inextricably interwoven with his representative character. Professor Paxson states that this loan "saved the life of the existing Argentine Government." Devereux's commission as General was received from the Government of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata at about this time. In addition to the loan above referred to, he gave the Buenos Airean patriots a large supply of munitions of war. The Supreme Director, Pueyrre- ddn, certainly seemed grateful for the assistance of Halsey and Devereux in this matter, if we may judge from the following letter of his to President Madison, dated January 3ist, 1817: —
MOST EXCELLENT SIR :
This Government, having been more active than ever in the present struggle, to bring to com- pletion the happy independence which the people have sworn and proclaimed, has endeavored to take every measure to forestall risks and to reckon with results, and to place the seal on the honor- able character which we now possess. But, in spite of such worthy endeavors, sufficient impulse has not been given to the cause to drive away the enemy, making him feel the weakness of his en- terprise, because of the lack of sufficient funds, has at times paralyzed hostile measures to have full play in other endeavors. In such a hard
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struggle Providence sent me aid through Mr. John Devereux, to whom I was invited through the Consul of those States, Mr. Thomas Lloyd Halsey, in the form of two million pesos, to be lent this Government under certain conditions, which I have not hesitated in accepting because of the need which forced me to do so, as well as by the nature of the contract ; it has been ap- proved by the competent authorities, and the articles which make it binding, and which are added thereto, have been approved in an agree- ment with the aforesaid Consul. It only remains for this Government to give it all the protection necessary for its fulfillment, and that is what these people request of Your Excellency through me. Persuaded as they are that the liberty which these states enjoy is the same which yours proclaim, they have such confidence in the guarantee of your Government for this loan that they have already given themselves over to the sweet hopes of friendly mutual relations, as between brothers, and they offer the most sincere cordiality from now on, and reciprocal union on behalf of the pure cause they defend.
May God guard Your Excellency many years.
Now Halsey had evidently not heard of Talley- rand's maxim about avoiding the use of too much zeal ; for he went too far in this case ; of course the United States could not guarantee any such loan, whatever Halsey and Devereux might have done in their private capacity. But Halsey was doubtless en- couraged in his endeavors by the following letter from Ignacio Alvarez to him, dated May loth, 1815 : —
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On the 6th instant I took possession of this Government to which the election of this worthy City has destined me in the quality of a substitute ; the administration of the State has placed under the direction of other persons, to be put an end to the calamities which the former Government oc- casioned, although it has not altered in the least the consideration of the estimation and value which the country dispenses to persons who are invested with a public character from foreign pow- ers. There is, further, a particular motive for distinguishing you from the source of your repre- sentation. If from the obstacles that have placed us at a distance, and the lack of communication, we have not maintained closer relations with the United States of the North, we have not been without knowing that reciprocal interest, and the analogy of sentiments invite us to unite our fate with the virtuous sons of Washington. In offering myself to you with this new purpose, and with all the considerations of appreciation which you de- serve, I think it my duty to beg you to use all the influence you have with your Government, so that when circumstances permit we may be able to receive the assistance that lies in their power, particularly with regard to articles of war, being assured that this Capital will make full payment for them, and that they will advise me when op- portunity offers to direct our communications.
This specific request for "assistance with regard to articles of war" later broadened into the mission of Manuel Hermenegildo de Aguirre to the United States of America. Three months after Halsey had
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ceased to be Consul, on April 28th, 1817, Pueyrreddn, who must have been sincerely friendly towards the United States to have written such a letter as the foregoing, addressed President Monroe in the follow- ing communication, whose language would indicate that even the disavowal of the loan had not shaken his faith in the good-will and brotherhood of the United
States of America. He states that —
•
When the interests of sound policy are in ac- cord with the principles of justice, nothing is more easy or more pleasing than the maintenance of harmony and good understanding between Pow- ers which are connected by close relations. This seems to be exactly the case in which the United States and these Provinces stand with respect to each other ; a flattering situation, which gives the signal of our success, and forms our best apology. It is on this occasion that Citizen Don Manuel Hermenegildo de Aguirre, Commissary-General of War, is deputed toward you in the character of Agent of this Government. If his recommend- able qualities are the best pledge of the faithful , discharge of his commission and of its favorable issue, the upright and generous sentiments of Your Excellency are not less auspicious to it The concurrence of these circumstances induces me to hope for the most favorable results. I trust, therefore, that Your Excellency will be pleased to grant to the said citizen Aguirre all the protection and consideration required by his diplomatic rank and the present state of our re- lations. This will be a new tie, by which the
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United States of the North will more effectually secure the gratitude and affections of the Free Provinces of the South.
Aguirre left Buenos Aires on May 2Oth, 1817; on April 1 9th he had made a contract with George Green, a United States merchant residing in that city, to bring some merchant vessels from the United States for the use of the patriot forces then devoting their energies toward obtaining the independence of the west coast of South America. Forty-two years before, on April ipth, 1775, the embattled farmers at Lexington and Concord had fired the shot heard around the world ; and now their countrymen were to aid their brothers under the Southern Cross in their struggle for freedom.
Aguirre possessed yet another credential — nothing less than a letter from Jose de San Martin, General- in-Chief of the Army of the Andes, to President James Monroe. It is a simple, dignified letter that fitly alludes to the similarity of the movement for freedom in both Americas ; it is the letter of one of the greatest men that has ever inspired the world with that con- sistently courageous self-denial without which true patriotism can never exist, or without which great nations cannot be founded. It was written in April, 1817, and deserves to be quoted in full: —
k
MOST EXCELLENT SIR:
Charged by the Supreme Director of the Prov- inces of South America with the command of the
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Army of the Andes, Heaven crowned my forces with a victory on the 1 2th of February over the oppressors of the beautiful kingdom of Chile. The sacred rights of nature being restored to the inhabitants of the country by the influence of the national arms and the efficacious impulse of my Government, fortune has opened a favorable field to new enterprises, which secure the power of liberty and the ruin of the enemies of America. Towards securing the consolidation of this object, the Supreme Director of the Government of Chile has considered, as a principal instrument, the armament in these States of a squadron destined to the Pacific Ocean, which, united to the forces that are preparing in the River La Plata, may cooperate in sqstaining the ulterior military oper- ations of the army under my command in South America ; and, convinced of the advantages which our political situation promises, I have crossed the Andes in order to concert in that capital, among other things, the guaranty of my Government, and, in compliance with the stipulations between the Supreme Director of Chile and its intimate ally, to carry into effect the plan which has been confided to Don Manuel Aguirre. Your Excel- lency, who enjoys the honor of presiding over a free people, who contended and shed their blood in a similar cause to that in which the inhabitants of South America are now engaged, will, I hope, deign to extend to the above-named person such protection as is compatible with the actual relations of your Government ; and I have the high satisfac- tion of assuring your Excellency that the arms of the country under my orders will not fail to give
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consistency and respect to the promises of both Governments.
I am happy in having this agreeable occasion to pay tribute to your Excellency of the homage and profound respect witrr which I have the honor to be Your Excellency's most humble servant,
JOSE DE SAN MARTIN.
The credential Aguirre possessed from the Govern- ment of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata to James Monroe, Secretary of State of the United States of America, is also quoted below in full : —
It cannot be forgotten that through this heroic revolution the people of this Union have long since directed their gaze toward that great Re- public which exists in the North of America. Since they obtained their glorious liberty, the United States have been like a luminous constel- lation which indicates the career traced by Provi- dence for the other people of this part of the globe.
Be it pleased, therefore, to receive from the voice of this Government its sincere sentiments on the present occasion and transmit them to his Excellency the President of the United States, so that that worthy magistrate of the first free nation of America may direct his attention to the state in which we now are, and may be pleased to accept the congratulations of this Government, because of the close relations which exist between the people who are charged therewith and ourselves, especially since we no longer belong to Spain, but are independent.
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Indeed, this is the precious moment to advance the commercial relations which have already be- gun, with the advantages which two Governments alike in their nature should promise each other ; a consideration whereby you will greatly oblige the Government of this country if you will lay it before the President, assuring him of our constant incli- nation toward everything that may lead to the prosperity of the United States. God guard you many years.
MIGUEL IRIGOYEN, FRANCISCO ANTONIO DE ESCALADA, MANUEL OBLIGADO. Buenos Aires, July igth, 1816.
On December 4th, 1817, Caesar A. Rodney, John Graham, and Theodoric Bland, accompanied by Henry M. Brackenridge, as Secretary, sailed in the United States frigate "Congress" from Hampton Roads, Virginia, and arrived at Buenos Aires on February 28th, 1818, to accomplish the mission of observation entrusted to them by President Monroe. By October, 1818, the commission had returned to the United States. Graham was afterward United States Minister to Brazil ; he was appointed to that post on January 6th, 1819, and died at Rio de Janeiro, while still hold- ing that office, on July 3 1st, 1820. On January 23rd, 1823, Rodney was confirmed as United States Min- ister to Buenos Aires, and was the first to hold that office. He left Philadelphia on June 8th, 1823, on the United States frigate "Congress," and arrived there on November i6th, just before the Monroe
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Doctrine was proclaimed (December 2nd, 1823). On June loth, 1824, he died at Buenos Aires, and the next issues of the Buenos Aires papers appeared in black. Rivadavia's oration over his grave is a master- piece of genuine Pan-American feeling.
On the 1 5th of February, 1818, Rivadavia wrote to Gregorio Tagle, who had only just before concluded the Tagle-Irissari treaty with Chile : "I was presented to Lafayette by the Ambassador of the United States, Mr. Gallatin. He lent me his active cooperation to prevent the supposed mediation [of European powers in the affairs of Latin America]. He has stated to the Chiefs of the Diplomatic Body that his Govern- ment cannot fail to recognize South American inde- pendence in the course of this year."
As Bland's report on this mission to Buenos Aires is not very well known, and is noteworthy as showing the friendly relations then existing between Argentina and the United States, the following extract there- from may prove of interest: —
REPORT OF THEODORIC BLAND, ESQ., ON SOUTH AMERICA.
BUENOS AIRES.
BALTIMORE, 2nd November, 1818. SIR:
The fair prospects which seemed to be open- ing upon some portions of the people of South America ; the lively sympathy for their cause, felt
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by citizens of the United States; and the deep interest of our country in the fate of those prov- inces, where colonial rule, or independent freedom, seems to have been put to issue, and contested with all the energy which such a stake never fails to excite, justly attracted the most serious atten- tion of the government. In whatever disposition of mind the South American contest and its scenes were contemplated ; whether with feelings of be- nevolence, and with the best wishes, or with re- gret, and under a sense of injury, the first thought, that which appeared most naturally to arise in the mind of every one, was the want of information as to the actually existing state of things. A new people were evidently making every possible effort against their transatlantic masters, and pre- paring themselves to claim a recognition in the society of the nations of the earth. In this strug- gle, each contending party endeavoring to strike his antagonist beyond the immediate area of the conflict, our commercial rights had frequently re- ceived a blow, and our municipal regulations were sometimes violated. New and fertile regions, rich and extensive channels of commerce were appar- ently about to be opened to the skill and enter- prise of the people of the United States ; as to all which, their feelings and their interests seemed to require to be gratified with further information. Under these considerations it became the earnest wish, and was deemed the right and duty of our Government to explain the views it had, in some of its measures ; by timely representations and re- monstrances, to prevent the further injury which our commercial and other rights were likely to
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sustain ; and to procure correct intelligence as to the existing state of affairs in those parts of our Continent, where the revolutionary movement had attracted the most attention and excited the strongest interest.
For this purpose, three persons, of whom I had the honor to be one, were selected and sent in a public ship to South America — who being, among other things, directed that, "if, while in Buenos Aires, they should find it expedient or useful, with reference to the public service, that one or more of them should proceed overland to Chile, they were authorized to act accordingly." They did, therefore, at Buenos Aires take into consider- ation the expediency and utility of going to Chile, and did there determine, that, under the existing circumstances, it would be expedient and useful for one or more of them to go to that country. In consequence of which I crossed the Andes, and having returned, it now becomes my duty to communicate a statement of such facts, circum- stances and documents as I have been able to collect, and which presented themselves as most likely to be of importance, or in any manner useful to the nation.
We sailed in the United States frigate, the "Congress," from Hampton Roads on the 4th of December, 1817, and touched, as directed, at Rio de Janeiro, where we delivered the despatches committed to our charge to Mr. Sumpter, the Minister of the United States resident there. After a stay of a few days, we proceeded thence direct for the River Plate, which we ascended in
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the "Congress" as far as Montevideo. Mr. Graham and myself visited that city and found it, with the country immediately around, to the extent of about three miles, in the actual possession of a Portuguese army, under the command of General Lacor. We were treated by the General with politeness, and an offer was made by him of per- mission to procure there, every facility we might want to convey us thence to Buenos Aires, and also of leave to obtain from the ship every re- freshment and accommodation we might want Finding that it would be impossible for the "Con- gress" to proceed much further up the river, owing to there not being a sufficient depth of water for her over a bar between Montevideo and Buenos Aires, which traverses the river entirely, and on which it is only eighteen feet deep, we took passage thence in a small vessel and landed at Buenos Aires on the 28th day of February last [1818].
After consulting and advising together, as to the extent, object, and manner of executing our instructions, it seemed to us, that no time should be lost in presenting ourselves to the Government, or chief constituted authorities of the place ; and, in making known to them all these subjects, which we were directed to present to their view. In ar- ranging those points, it was deemed most proper, in the first place, to express the friendly and neutral disposition of our Government, and to place in a fair and amicable point of view those measures which it had been supposed were likely to be interesting, or materially to effect the feel- ings, or the claims of the people of the River
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Plate ; and then to present the injuries many of the citizens of the United States had sustained, and the infractions of their laws, which had been com- mitted by armed vessels, assuming the name and character of patriots, belonging to the independent governments of South America, and to seek the information which our Government had directed us to obtain ; and which it had been deemed most advisable to procure from the public functionaries themselves as far as practicable.
Accordingly, after ascertaining the names and style of the principal personages in authority, we called on his honor El Senor Don Gregorio Tagle, the Secretary of State ; and having made known to him who we were, and expressed our wish to have an interview with the chief magistrate of the country, a day and hour was appointed for the purpose, when we called, and were, accordingly, introduced by the Secretary of State to His Ex- cellency, El Senor Don Juan Martin de Pueyrre- ddn, the Supreme Director of the United Provinces of South America. After the interchange of some complimentary expressions of politeness, good wishes, and friendly dispositions, we made knowir to the Director, in general terms, the character of special agents, in which we had been sent by our Government to communicate with him ; and that our communications might be either with himself or with his Secretary. The Director replied, that they would be received in a spirit of brotherly friendship, and in that form and through either of those channels which we should deem most con- venient.
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In a short time after our introduction to the Director, and in about a week after our arrival, we waited on the Secretary of State, as being the most formal, and respectful, mode of making our communications to this new and provisional revo- lutionary government. We stated to the Secre- tary, that our Government had not viewed the struggle now pending between the provinces of South America and Spain, merely as a rebellion of colonists ; but as a civil war, in which each party was entitled to equal rights and equal respect; and that the United States had, therefore, assumed and would preserve the most impartial, and the strictest good faith, a neutral position ; and in the preservation of this neutrality, according to the established rules of the law of nations, no rights, privileges, or advantages would be granted by our Government to one of the contending parties which would not, in like manner, be extended to the other. The Secretary expressed his appro- bation of this course ; but in an interview subse- quent to the first, when the neutral position of the United States was again spoken of, he intimated a hope that the United States might be induced to depart from its rigid neutrality in favor of his Government — to which we replied, that as to what our Government might be induced to do, or what would be its future policy toward the patriots of South America we could not, nor were we authorized to say anything.
[Here follows a long report of verbal inquiries addressed by the Commissioners to the Secretary on the subject of Amelia Island.]
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To which the Secretary replied, that the Gov- ernment of Buenos Aires had not before been informed, or heard of the abuses committed by those who had taken possession of Amelia Island and Galveston ; that it had no connection what- ever with those who had exercised any authority at either of those places, and that the removal of those establishments could not fail to be attended with good consequences to the patriot cause, by preventing any improper imputation being cast on it; and therefore his Government could, certainly, only see in that measure of the United States the manifestations towards it of the most friendly dis- position. We stated to the Secretary, that it had been understood, that many unprincipled and abandoned persons, who had obtained commis- sions as privateers from the independent patriot Government, had committed great depredations on our commerce, and had, evidently, got such commissions, not so much from any regard to the cause of independence and freedom, as with a view to plunder; and that we entertained a hope, that there would be a due degree of circumspection exercised by that Government in granting com- missions which, in their nature, were so open to abuse.
The Secretary replied, that there had hitherto been no formal complaint made against any of the cruisers of Buenos Aires ; and that if any cause of complaint should exist, his Government would not hesitate to afford proper redress, on a pre- sentation and proof of the injury; that the Gov- ernment of Buenos Aires had taken every possible
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precaution in its power, in such cases, that it had established and promulgated a set of rules and regulations for the government of its private armed vessels, a copy of which should be furnished us ; and that it had, in all cases, as far as possible, enjoined and enforced a strict observance of those regulations and the law of nations.
We stated to the Secretary, that a considerable portion of the people of the United States had manifested a very favorable disposition towards the patriot cause in South America ; and the Government, also, had every disposition to treat the patriot authorities with the justice, dignity and favor which they merited, that although our Gov- ernment had, for the present, determined on ad- hering to a strict and impartial neutrality between the contending parties, it might yet deem it pol- itic and just hereafter to adopt other measures; and therefore, with a view to regulate its conduct and policy with perfect good faith and candour, as well as with regard to its neutrality, as with regard to any other measures it might deem advisable to take, it had charged us, as special agents, to seek and endeavor to obtain, in this country, such in- formation as to the actual state of things, as would enable it to act with correctness, precision, and understandingly in whatever course it may here- after pursue We assured the Secretary,
that our Government sought this information from an experience of the want of it, and in the spirit of the most perfect amity; that until the com- mencement of the present revolutionary move- ments in that country, it had been so comparatively
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locked up from the eye, observation and inter- course of every foreign nation, that the real state of things in it had been but very imperfectly, and, in some respects, were wholly unknown ; that the friendship so openly and decidedly expressed by a consideradle portion of the people of the United States would furnish conclusive proof of the spirit of good-will in which this information was sought ; and, in itself, was a guarantee that their Govern- ment would, under no circumstances, use the communications that might be made for improper or unfriendly purposes towards the people of that country. But, if that Government should thinl proper to note any communications it shoul make, as private and confidential, we pledged our- selves that our Government would never suffer it to go to the public ; if, indeed, there could be wanting any other more solemn and decided man- ifestation of respect, on its part, than the very act itself of our having been sent in a public ship of war to have this intercourse with them. The Sec- retary, in reply, said that his Government had the greatest confidence in the friendly dispositions of that of the United States ; and that the people of the two countries were friends toward each other as brothers ; felt as such, and would act toward each other as brothers ; that the information asked for would certainly be granted ; . . . . that, as re- garded foreign nations, they had, hitherto, had no official communication with any of them ; and their relations with all, except Spain, were those of mere peace, such as were obvious to the world, without any treaty or stipulation whatever
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But this chapter cannot be closed without quoting an important dispatch written in this same year, 1817, to James Monroe, President of the United States of America, by one of the greatest of South Americans, — Bernardo O'Higgins, — which reads as follows: —
SANTIAGO DE CHILE,
April ist, 1817. MOST EXCELLENT SIR :
The beautiful kingdom of Chile having been reestablished on the I2th day of February last by the army of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, under the command of the brave General Don Jose de San Martin, and the supreme direction of the state being conferred on me by choice of the people, it becomes my duty to an- nounce to the world the new asylum which these countries offer to the industry and friendship of the citizens of all nations of the globe.
The inhabitants of Chile, having thus reassumed their natural rights, will not hereafter submit to be despoiled of their just prerogatives, nor tolerate the sordid and pernicious policy of the Spanish cabinet In its numerous population, and the riches of its soil, Chile presents the basis of a solid and durable power, to which the indepeneence of this precious portion of the New World will give the fullest security. The knowledge and resources of the neighboring nation of Peru, which has re- solved to support our emancipation, encourage the hope of the future prosperity of these regions,
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and of the establishment, on liberal grounds, of a commercial and political intercourse with all na- tions. If the cause of humanity interests the ings of Your Excellency, and the identity of the principles of our present contest with those which formerly prompted the United States to assert in- dependence disposes your Government and peo- ple favorably towards our cause, Your Excellency will always find me most earnestly desirous of promoting the commercial and friendly relations of the two countries, and of removing every ob- stacle to the establishment of most perfect har- mony and good understanding.
God guard you many years.
BERNARDO O'HiGGiNS.
CHAPTER II
CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WHO
TOOK PART IN THE LATJN-AMERICAN WAR
OF INDEPENDENCE, 1810-1826
IT should always be remembered, in discussing the United States of America, who took part in the Latin-American Wars of Independence, that the United of States of America was at that time in a very different position from England or France, which countries furnished so many more volunteers to that noble cause. During three years of the period in question the United States was herself at war. Yet during this time the brave Baltimorean, Alexander Macaulay, laid down his life for the freedom of Co- lombia at Popayan. During all this period the United States was itself expanding and opening up vast tracts of land for cultivation and settlement. Yet more vessels flying the Stars and Stripes entered the harbor of Buenos Aires in 1810 than in 1910; there were more American than English ships in the harbor of Buenos Aires in 1824, and far more on the west coast of South America in 1813 than in 1913.
Let us now briefly discuss the careers of a few typical citizens of the United States of America who struggled for the freedom of their brothers in the South.
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First and foremost comes Charles Whiting Woos- J ter, Rear-Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean navy. He was born in New Haven, Con- necticut, in 1780, being the grandson of General David Wooster, who was one of the eight Brigadier- Generals first named by the United States of America in 1776, and the son of Thomas Wooster, who was born at Danbury, Connecticut, July soth, 1751. When only eleven years old he went to sea, and when he was twenty-one was in command of the ship " Fair American" of New York, which arrived in Philadel- phia from Surinam on November I7th, 1801. Later, according to the Chilean historian Vicuna Mackenna, he was "captain of the port of New York, with the title of Colonel," and in 1812 we find him again sail- ing the Spanish Main, in command of the United States privateer "Saratoga." From 1812 to 1815, when he sailed the seas in command of her, he took twenty-two British vessels, including the British let- ter of marque "Rachael" off La Guaira, after a cele- brated naval action. These captures may explain why Cochrane so disliked Wooster, and the sneering allusion to him in Julian Corbett's Life of Cochrane. When the War of 1812 was over we find him again returning to peaceful maritime pursuits ; he arrived at Philadelphia from Liverpool on April 2nd, 1816, in command of the ship "Halcyon" after a fifty-days' voyage.
The South American wars for independence had reached a critical stage. The United Provinces of the
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Rio de la Plata alone were free from the Spanish forces when the year 1816 began. Chile, Peru, and what are now the Republics of Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, were still filled with King Ferdinand's forces. King John VI reigned over Portugal, the Algarves and Brazil, and was soon — on December 3rd, 1817 — to sign the Holy Alliance at Rio de Janeiro. The end of the Napoleonic wars in Europe encouraged the Government of Madrid to make every effort to retain their American colonies, which still exterhed from Florida to Southern Chile.
On January i/th, 1816, Jose Miguel Carrera ar- rived at Annapolis after a sixty-three days' voyage from Buenos Aires. Not long before, President Mad- ison had issued his famous proclamation of Septem- ber 1 5th, 1815, forbidding the export of arms and ammunition to South America. (A century later, President Wilson issued various neutrality procla- mations ; but they did not prevent twenty Harvard graduates from dying for the Allies.) Long before Madison's proclamation, citizens of the United States of America were taking a vigorous part in the South American wars for independence. Alexander Macau- lay had been captured and shot by the Spaniards at Pasto, Colombia, on January 26th, 1813. Samuel William Taber had invented a submarine boat for the patriots of Buenos Aires, and had been imprisoned by the Royalists at Montevideo while in their service, to- gether with his fellow countryman, John Vincent War-
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dell, who was a captain of a batallion of light infantry in the service of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. Taber died on November 8th, 1813, near Buenos Aires. The activities of United States citi- zens in Chile in 1813 will be stated presently. Thus the United States had not been indifferent to South American freedom.
Carrera was received by President Madison, and dined with him in the White House, on January 26th, 1816; and now began his unceasing propaganda in the United States in favor of Chilean independence. He had two ships built for the cause, which he later brought to Buenos Aires ; andpje enlisted the sym- pathy of many adventurous young citizens of the United States^ in those days when three-quarters of our foreign commerce was carried under the Stars and Stripes, which flew in almost every harbor of the world, from Mauritius to Riga. Both Vicuna Mac- kenna and Garcia Reyes (in his "Memoria sobre la primera escuadra nacional," Santiago, 1846) state that Carrera inspired Wooster to come to Chile ; and it is hardly to be doubted when we consider Carrera's enthusiasm and Wooster's sanely adventurous tem- perament. Besides, Wooster's wife had just died ; and the sea was in his blood, for the old General Wooster had traded to the West Indies when Con- necticut was only a colony. So on November 28th, 1817, Wooster sailed from New York on his armed bark "Columbus" with a cargo of sixty-six cases of
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guns, forty-seven artillery grenades, sixty-one barrels of powder, 312 barrels of cannon balls, 309 cases thereof, — and much peaceful cargo, such as 391 cases of crockery and ninety-seven reams of news- print paper. The New York Evening Post for Friday, November 28th, 1817, comments on her sailing as follows : "Sailed on Wednesday last, the elegant cor- vette brig ' Columbus,' Charles W. Wooster comman- der, with a number of passengers, bound on a com- mercial voyage to the northwest coast of America [Madison's proclamation was still in effect, and no one liked to commit an "overt act" against Spain], thence to Canton, and back to the United States. We are authorized to say," continues the enterprising New York reporter, "that this vessel, in point of naval architecture, equipment, and sailing, has perhaps never been excelled by any that has before left this port"
On February 4th, 1818, the "Columbus" arrived at Buenos Aires, consigned to Messrs. Zimmerman, Lynch & Co., whose senior partner, Mr. John Chris- tian Zimmerman, of New York City (1786-1857), had arrived in Buenos Aires on the "Kemp" of Balti- more, on September 1st, 1815, with a large supply of munitions of war, and shortly before Wooster' s ar- rival two boats had reached Buenos Aires on the same day, December i6th, 1817, with arms and ammuni- tion for his firm, — one with powder from Baltimore, the other with 188 cases of guns from Salem.
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Wooster may have met a relative of his by mar- riage in Buenos Aires. His cousin Julia had married, on October 6th, 1811, David Charles de Forest, of Huntington, Connecticut, who had been in business in Buenos Aires since February, 1 802 ; but though she had returned to New Haven nearly a year before, in April, 1817, her husband did not leave Buenos Aires until March, 1818. It is, however, almost cer- tain that Wooster saw Carrera while in the River Plate. (That active Chilean had arrived in Buenos Aires from the United States in February, 1817, and remained there and in Montevideo until his arrest, on March 29th, 1818.) Possibly he saw the United States Commissioners, Rodney, Graham and Bland, who reached Buenos Aires February 27th, 1818. Their secretary, Henry M. Brackenridge, describes the trade between the United States and Buenos Aires in 1818 as follows : —
From the United States they receive lumber of all kinds, and furniture of every description, coaches and carriages of all sorts, cod-fish, mack- erel, shad and herring, leather, boots and shoes, powder and munitions of war, and naval stores, ships and vessels, particularly those calculated for their navy or for privateers.
I have been unable to ascertain the exact date when Wooster left Buenos Aires on the "Columbus"; it was probably towards the end of March, 1818, and was possibly not unconnected with Carrera's arrest.
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The "Columbus" arrived at Valparaiso on April 25th, 1818, when the Chileans were beginning to form their much-needed navy; for, though both Chacabucom and Maipu had been won on land, further progress towards complete independence was difficult without sea power. Only four months before Wooster's ar- rival in Chile 3,400 veteran Spanish troops had been transported from Peru to Talcahuano, which was still held by the Royalist forces ; and the absolute in- dependence of Chile had only been proclaimed some two months and a half before, on February I2th, 1818. The Royalist fleet was not driven away from the neighborhood of Valparaiso until almost the day of Wooster's arrival. A United States bark, the "Ariel," from Baltimore, had forced the blockade on February I3th, and decoyed her pursuer — a Spanish warship — under the guns of the Playa Ancha battery, which succeeded in injuring her.
Chile was still in a rather unsettled condition, and it was only after considerable negotiations that the Chilean Government bought the "Columbus" on August 6th, 1818, from Zacharias W. Nixon, who seems to have acquired her from Wooster shortly be- fore. On August loth she was renamed the "Arau- cano," and on the same day Wooster was given the rank of captain in the Chilean navy, the "Araucano" being placed under his command on August I4th. Bernardo O'Higgins, then Supreme Director of Chile, issued a proclamation to the new navy on September
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7th, 1818, in which he mentions the North Ameri- cans who were lending their services to the Chilean squadron.
Wooster was now one of the three captains in the Chilean navy. On September i/th, 1818, one of the captains, John Higginson, retired, leaving Wooster and Captain William Wilkinson second under Ad- miral Blanco Encalada in command of the Chilean navy. On October loth, 1818, the Chilean squadron left Valparaiso. Wooster commanded the frigate "Lautaro" of fifty guns and 350 men, then the second largest ship of the Chilean navy. The "Araucano" was in command of a young adventurer, a citizen of the United States of America, named Raymond Mor- ris, who had taken part in the battle of Chacabuco under the patriot forces in February of that same year. The "Araucano" carried sixteen guns and no men. The shores of Valparaiso were crowded with people of all ages and sexes to see the squadron sail to attack the Spanish fortress of Talcahuano. On the day after sailing they lost sight of land, being carried along by a fresh breeze from the Southeast. Blanco Encalada now opened his sealed instructions, in ac- cordance with which he directed his course to the Island of Mocha, where he was to remain to await the enemy's convoy. The voyage continued without in- cident for several days, the squadron crossing the route frequented by ships proceeding from the Straits of Magellan to Callao. Daily drills were held and the
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squadron's efficiency considerably improved. On the evening of the I4th, when the squadron was about ten to twelve leagues distant from the Island of Quiri- quina, the "Araucano" was detached and ordered to sail to the Island of Santa Maria, the Commander-in- Chief continuing his course with the "San Martin" and "Lautaro." In the early morning of the 2/th they learned from the English whaling ship "Shake- speare" that the Spanish war frigate "Maria Isabel" had passed into Talcahuano. The "Maria Isabel" had belonged to the Russian fleet, and was sold by the Czar, Alexander I, to the King of Spain, with five other ships and five frigates, to aid him in the restora- tion of the Spanish monarchy in America, as the re- sult of the Holy Alliance. She was brilliantly cap- tured by the Chilean navy in Talcahuano harbor on October 28th, 1818, Wooster being the first to board her. This was a month before Admiral Cochrane ar- rived in Chile. In the official report which Admiral Encalada made to the Supreme Director, O'Higgins, on the 5th of November, 1818, he highly commends Captain Wooster, stating that he maintained the high- est discipline, his men showing their valor by executing manoeuvres with promptness and perfection, making every sacrifice to secure success. This message was reprinted in the Gazeta de Buenos Aires for Decem- ber 3rd, 1818. On November i/th the .squadron tri- umphantly reentered Valparaiso, though the "Chaca- buco" did not arrive until November 22nd, with two captured Spanish transports.
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On November 28th, 1818, Lord Cochrane arrived at Valparaiso on the British merchant vessel "Rose," and on December nth, 1818, was placed in com- mand of the Chilean navy. At that time Wooster was still in command of the frigate "Lautaro," which had then forty-four guns and a crew of 228. Cochrane at once got into difficulty with Raymond Morris, who continued in command of the "Araucano," suspend- ing him and distributing his crew among the other ships of the squadron for refusing to raise anchor eighteen hours after they had been ordered to do so. Cochrane had fought against the United States and seemed to have had but little affection toward people from that country. On the pth of January, 1819, Coch- rane received instructions to proceed to blockade Callao, and on the I4th, as the squadron was about to sail, Captain Wooster reported to Cochrane that his own vessel could not do so, since his crew was dis- contented, as they had very little clothes and no money, and that he thought that in such an exigency his vessel ought not to leave port Cochrane answered him that his order must be obeyed that night, and that he could take everything he wanted from Coch- rane's own ship, even to the mast and sails if he thought them necessary for the "Lautaro." Wooster could do nothing else in such a crisis than to resign, and Captain Guise was named in his place. Wooster's reasoning was fully justified when a mutiny broke out on the "Lautaro" on the next day.
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Although Wooster continued in Chile in a whal- ing enterprise, he did not reenter the Chilean navy until the i8th of March, 1822, when he was ap- pointed Chief of the Chilean naval forces. Early in April, 1822, he sailed to the southward in com- mand of the naval forces of General Bauchef's expe- dition against the Island of Chiloe, which was still held by the Spanish forces. He arrived at Valparaiso on the 26th of October. Three days before, when the "Lautaro" had entered the harbor of Talca- huano, a serious mutiny broke out, the crew refusing to obey Wooster's orders to accompany two trans- ports which were taking provisions and supplies to the expeditionary forces at Valdivia. In the mean- while Cochrane had returned to Valparaiso on June the 2nd.
On November 27th, 1825, Wooster sailed from Valparaiso on the expedition to reduce the Island of Chiloe in command of the bark "Aquiles," where he behaved with great bravery. In the attack of Janu- ary nth, 1826, Freeman Oxley, a United States citizen, was killed by fire from the battery of San Carlos while serving on the Chilean man-of-war "Aquiles," while endeavoring to board a launch of the enemy's. A little over two years before this, in the engagement between the Chilean ship "Monte- zuma" and the Royalist Spanish ship from Chiloe, the "General Quintanilla," on December nth, 1823, his bravery received special commendation, and the
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Chilean historian Barros Arana states that at the time of his death he was beginning a brilliant career in the Chilean navy for himself by his intrepidity at all cost.
Another of Wooster's exploits was the conveying in 1826 of General Santa Cruz to Bolivia (which then had a seacoast), of which country he had been made President while Bolivian Minister to Chile.
In the year 1829 Wooster was in command of the Chilean navy, in which year he was made Rear- Admiral and retired from the service.
Perhaps the best way of characterizing the activities of Wooster in Chile would be to quote prominent Chileans' testimonials of his services to their country. On September i8th, 1835, ex-President Francisco Vicuna wrote as follows to Wooster: —
You informed me that the time is soon coming when you leave for your native land ; this news has been very painful to me and to all my family; and when I think of this separation, after eighteen years of the closest friendship, my house having been the first which you entered in this capitol, my heart is moved as I review the benefits which my native land has received by your services, — but can the risks, the victories, the honor and other noble qualities of Admiral Wooster be ever forgotten by the honored patriots in Chile? The history of this republic will not fail to recognize who this man was and what he did for our inde- pendence ; all his services, all worthy of the highest gratitude and recognition, are engraved in the memory of the .best of my fellow-countrymen.
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Who does not remember the capture of the Spanish frigate "Maria Isabel" in the harbor of Talcahuano? A valorous and risky act, but sus- tained and accomplished with bravery. Who will forget the daring on this memorable day when the Rear- Admiral saved the ship "San Martin," which had run aground and was in the greatest danger of being lost? The mere name of Wooster drove off every pirate, every Spanish ship which formerly lorded it on our coasts, causing every class of in- jury and destroying our commerce completely, forever from our shores.
The memory of good Chileans will be eternal to tell the glories of his triumphs to posterity, due largely to the intrepidity of our Rear-Admiral, who in the ship "Lautaro," blockading Valdivia and Chiloe, still occupied by our enemies, in the stormiest weather in those rough waters, so feared by sailors, hindered with his indefatigable con- stancy every reenforcement, every communica- tion and every aid; and the blockaded were in such terror that the patriots who were in these places took courage and thought that with the aid of our maritime forces that they could throw off the yoke of their slavery, as soon after occurred.
And can the year 1825 be forgotten among us? Let us recall to mind the end of our struggles and the work of the integrity of Chilean liberty accom- plished. And who had the greater part in the actions of that day in which the Archipelago of Chiloe was cleared of the flood of Spaniards who had fled there after we drove them out from our continent. Wooster it was whose ever excessive daring triumphed in the most difficult actions ; on
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board the warship "Aquiles" he fearlessly ad- vanced before the castles and batteries which raked all the bay with a terrible fire ; on another side the gunboats kept up a quick attack, but Wooster, like an aroused lion, rose above the fire and death which were on all sides of him and con- centrated all the enemy's fire on one place. Their flank was therefore left exposed, by means of which the land forces were able to disembark, and in a moment General Freire routed all the enemy's forces, thus placing the seal on the work of the War of Independence.
After General Pinto left the Government, in ac- cordance with the law the supreme command of the republic fell on me, and I had planned to write a biography of the famous men of our revo- lution, in whose pages you were to occupy a very prominent place, and considering through this the important services which the nation owed to you, I saw fit to direct that you be commissioned Rear-Admiral of the Chilean fleet, and I have the honor of having signed the commission which confirms this result of my fully justified line of conduct
Neither I nor my family shall ever lessen the regard in which we hold you ; we will always re- member your constant and firm loyalty in the re- cent disturbances. Your sincere friend,
FRANCISCO VICUNA.
On June 3Oth, 1835, General Pinto wrote to Woos- ter from Serena as follows : —
I have received and read with real sorrow your welcome letter of the I2th inst, in which you in-
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form me that you were soon leaving for the United States, asking me for a statement of your services which you rendered to our republic during the long time that you have served her.
These services are well known, and there is no Chilean who is ignorant of them. You were one of the founders of our squadron in the year 1818 ; you obtained command of the warship "Lautaro," and the capture of the Spanish frigate "Maria Isabel," with a convoy of 2,500 men was the fruit of this first campaign in which you won distin- guished praise from the Rear-Admiral of the squadron ; whenever he ordered you to undertake the difficult blockade of Chiloe and Valdivia you performed it to the satisfaction of the Government, so that no Spanish ship could reach any of those that you were watching.
In the year 1825 the second expedition to Chiloe and its glorious result, which completed the War of Independence, you played a promi- nent part by the readiness, intelligence and brav- ery with which the "Aquiles," which was under your command, fought the fortresses there, while the troops were disembarking. When the garri- son in the next year rose in rebellion against Na- tional authority, you were in command of the squadron which led the expedition that subdued them, rendering also in this campaign worthy and important services, which helped to completely establish order in all the Archipelago.
When the Ministry of War and Marine was un- der my charge in the years 1824 and 1825, and during the time when I was charged with the Su- preme Government of the Republic, in the years of
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1827-28 and a part of 1829, your conduct always deserved the regard of the Government for your valor, honor, zeal in the service and precise com- pliance with the duties entrusted to you.
I will finish by repeating that I am extremely sorry to see a veteran of its independence leave my country, one who has served her with such honor and constancy in the days of risk and danger, when a Spanish cell was generally the end of the career of a patriot. I remain,
Very truly yours,
F. A. PINTO.
It is interesting to compare Wooster's ending with that of his fellow-citizens of the United States of America who fought in the early South American na- vies. David Jewett, of New London, was Comman- der-in-Chief of the Brazilian navy when Wooster was attacking Chiloe in -1826, and in that same year Jonas Halstead Coe, of New Jersey, entered the Argentine navy, in which he soon afterward distin- guished himself as second in command under the famous Admiral Brown. John Daniel Daniels, of Baltimore, had served in the Colombian navy for many years ; he was given a pension for life by Vene- zuela in 1845. Coe married a daughter of the dis- tinguished Argentine General Balcarce, and died in 1864 on his beautiful estate in Entre Rios, with his children and grandchildren about him. Jewett passed away in Rio de Janeiro in 1842, laden with wealth and honors. Both Paul and William Delano, of
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Massachusetts, who had served with Wooster in the Chilean navy, ended their long lives in peace and plenty in their Chilean homes. Wooster alone died in poverty, in 1848, far away from his only son, an officer in the United States army. And at his funeral the American and Chilean flags were draped over the grave of one who, as Vicuna Mackenna fitly observes, "was second only to Cochrane among the famous sail- ors who came from the Atlantic to place the Pacific Ocean under the shade of our [the Chilean] flag." *
At least two citizens of the United States of America laid down their lives for Chile during her war for independence. Lieutenant Charles Eldridge,
*BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
" Manifiesto que da en su despedida de Chile el Contra- Almirante D. C. W. Wooster." Santiago de Chile, 1836 : Im- prenta de la Opinion. Exceedingly rare. Only known copy in the National Library at Santiago de Chile. Contains letters to Wooster quoted above from Freire, Pinto, and Francisco Vi- cuna. I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Carlos Silva Cruz, the National Librarian, for permission to consult this pamphlet.
" Galeria Nacional 6 Colleccion de Biografias y Retratos de Hombres Ce'lebres de Chile." Escrita por los principales literatos del pais. Dirigida y publlcada por Narciso Desmadril. Miguel Luis Amunategui, Revisor. Tomo II, pp. 160-165, contains an excellent short biography of Wooster by Vicuna Mackenna.
Figueroa, Pedro Pablo : " Diccionario Biografico de Estran- jeros en Chile." Santiago, 1900.
Uribe, Luis (Admiral of the Chilean Navy) : " Nuestra Ma- rina Militar." Su Organizacion y Campanas durante la guerra de la Independencia. Valparaiso, 1910.
Other references will be found in the text.
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who had formerly served in the United States navy, and who had arrived at Buenos Aires from Baltimore on the ship "Clifton" on the 9th of February, 1817, was killed in the attack by General Las Heras at Talcahuano on December 6th, 1817. The other, as we have seen, was Freeman Oxley, who was a lieu- tenant in the Chilean navy.
Daniel Carson, who had formerly been a lieutenant in the United States navy, and who came out with Eldridge on the "Clifton," was wounded at the attack on Talcahuano, at the time when Eldridge was killed. He afterward commanded a company of marines in Lord Cochrane's descent on Guayaquil, which occured on November 25th, 1819. Lieutenant Manning was also wounded in the same attack on Talcahuano, and Ezekiel Jewett and William Ken- nedy also served in the Chilean navy. The brothers Paul and William Delano, who came from Massa- chusetts, and whose descendants have played such a noteworthy and prominent part in the history of Chile, both served in the Chilean squadron during the war for independence, apparently entering it in July, 1819, and William Delano was one of the three United States officers who accompanied General San Martin to Peru from Chile in August, 1820, com- manding the transports in that expedition. He also took a prominent part in the Peruvian campaign of that year and the next. On July 22nd, 1813, Cap- tain Henry Ross, a United States engineer, was de-
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clared to be "benemerito de la Patria" by the Chilean Government.
We have alluded in a previous chapter to Samuel B. Johnston, who arrived at Valparaiso on November 2 1st, 1811, after a voyage of one hundred and twenty- two days from New York in the "Galloway," with the printing-press from the United States. Johnston's Chilean experiences are detailed in a fascinatingly adventurous style in a book published by R. I. Curtis at Erie, Pa., in 1816, which is probably the first book published in the United States of America relating to Chile. It is entitled " Letters Written During a Residence of Three Years in Chile : containing an account of the most remarkable events in the Revolu- tionary struggles in that Province, with an interesting account of the loss of a Chilean ship, and a brig-of-war by mutiny, and the consequent imprisonment and suffering of several citizens of the United States, for six months, in the dungeons of Callao ; by Samuel B. Johnston, formerly in the service of the Patriots." As it almost wholly relates to Johnston's services in the Chilean navy, as a result of which not merely was Chilean citizenship conferred on him, but also the fol- lowing letter was addressed to Captain Edward Barne- wall, who formerly commanded the brig in question, by the Supreme Chilean Junta, it will be considered in this chapter. It is noteworthy as showing the prominent part played by citizens of the United States of America in the earliest days of the Chilean War of
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Independence. The letter in question, which is dated December 3rd, 1813, reads as follows: —
We have received your official communication relative to the loss of the ship "Pearl" and the brig "Colt." We are fully convinced that this took place in consequence of a treasonable con- spiracy, and are also apprized of the hardships you have endured in captivity. The country is con- vinced of your merit and its representatives are deliberating in what manner to reward and dis- tinguish those who have labored with fidelity in its cause.
May God preserve you many years.
JOSE MIGUEL INFANTE, AGUSTIN DE EYZAGUIRRE, JOSE IGNACIO CIENFUEGOS.
Talca, December 3, 1813.
It appears from this book that in April, 1813, the Chilean Government purchased the United States armed brig "Colt," which mounted eight long twelve- inch guns, ten nine-pound cannonades, two long six- inch guns and two swivels. She had a crew of ninety men, sixteen of whom were citizens of the United States of America. Their names and ranks were : William Barnet, sailing master; Samuel Dusenbury, midshipman ; Timothy Chase, master's mate, of the "Pearl"; Henry Heacock, master's mate; John S. Waters, carpenter; Peter N. Hanson, gunner; John Heck, interpreter; Henry Smith, seaman; William McKoy, seaman; Sevelo Denton, seaman; James
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Dawmas, seaman ; Moses Pierce, seaman ; Le Roy Laws, seaman ; Willis Forbes, seaman ; Jeremiah Green, seaman ; Frederick Rasmonson, seaman.
Her former chief officer, who was placed in com- mand of her, was also a citizen of the United States of America, named Edward Barnewall. Johnston himself was commissioned as "Teniente de Fragata," first lieutenant in the Chilean navy. The "Colt" was ready for sea on April 26th, but was treacherously captured by Spaniards from Peru, which was still held by Spain, on May 2nd, and her crew were held in cap- tivity until their release by a decree of the Viceroy, Pezuela, of September I3th, 1813. On November 6th, 1813, they returned to Valparaiso, and Johnston reached Santiago on December 8th, 1813. He left Chile in the "Essex Junior" on April 2/th, 1814, having had Chilean citizenship conferred on him in the previous month. As we have already seen, the "Colt" was back in Valparaiso when Admiral Porter arrived there on March I5th, 1813.
In Argentina we find Dr. Franklin Rawson, of Essex County, Massachusetts, rendering important services in the war for independence. He was the father of the distinguished Dr. Guillermo Rawson, who was in the cabinet of Argentina under President Mitre, and for whom the town of Rawson in the Patagonian territory of the Chubut is named.
John Anthony King was born in New York City in 1803. He arrived at Buenos Aires in 1817 from Balti-
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more, probably on a vessel sent out thence by the Argen- tine commissioner, Aguirre. He was commissioned a flag-bearer (bandero) by the Supreme Director, Pueyr- reddn, in 1818, and was afterwards promoted to be an adjutant and colonel in the Argentine army. He took part in the Peruvian and other campaigns, and was also captain in the service of Upper Peru in Bo- livia. His fascinating book, "Twenty-four Years in Argentina," is recommended to all who desire a vivid narrative of an interesting period in that great coun- try's history. Although John Halstead Coe, of New- ark, New Jersey (1805-1864), is best known for his having been appointed by General Rivera comman- der-in-chief of the Uruguayan navy in 1841, he had served since 1826 in the Argentine navy, distinguish- ing himself particularly therein in 1827, under that gallant Irishman, William Brown. Coe married, on July 7th, 1828, at Trinidad, the daughter of the Ar- gentine General Balcarce, and had large estates in the province of Entre Rios. Coe was the sixth in descent from the Puritan immigrant Robert Coe. A dispatch from the United States Consul-General John Murray Forbes to Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, of December 4th, 1820, mentions a Commodore Taylor, of Baltimore, in the Buenos Aires service.
We have already seen that thirty citizens of the United States of America accompanied Miranda on his expedition to Venezuela in 1806. In the year 1818 John Daniel Daniels, of Baltimore (1786-1865),
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became a captain in the Colombian navy, Colombia then including what are now the sister republics of Venezuela and Ecuador. In 1822 Daniels, who was then acting as the agent for the Colombian Govern- ment in the United States of America, purchased the beautiful corvette "Hercules," built by Mr. Eckford, of New York City, in the fall of 1822. He embarked from that place for La Guaira on October 2nd, 1822. The "Hercules" afterward took the name of "Boli- var"; Senora Antonia Bolivar, sister of the Liberator Simon Bolivar, came out on her on this voyage, ac- companied by her daughter Josephine and son Paul. The vessel carried twenty-five thirty-two-pounders, such as were then usually carried by the United States corvettes, besides two brass twenty-four-pound cannon on her forecastle. Her crew consisted of two hundred and twenty splendid seamen, principally of the crew from the United States frigate "Mace- donian," which had been for the preceding three years off the west coast of South America, having arrived at Valparaiso from Boston on January 28th, 1819. An incident that Henry Hill tells of her encounter with Lord Cochrane at Callao in 1820 is worth repeating : —
When Lord Cochrane was blockading Callao with three ships of war, it was reported at Val- paraiso that he had said he was able to enforce the blockade, and would not allow the "Macedonian" or any ship-of-war or merchant ship to enter. Captain Downes, U. S. N., commanding the " Macedonian," had previously announced his in-
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tention to sail for Callao on a certain day, and when these reports came to him he with difficulty re- strained himself, merely remarking that he should leave at the appointed time and should be happy to take letters, etc. But he said to me, "I will tell you my plan. If Cochrane attempts to stop me I shall pour a broadside into him, aiming all my guns to one point, hoping to sink him at once. If I succeed in this, I can easily dispose of the other two ships." He sailed on the day set; and on approaching Lord Cochrane's ship the "Mace- donian" passed her stern, the two commanders standing on their respective quarter-decks, speak- ing-trumpets in hand, and Lord Cochrane shouted "Hope Captain Downes is well." "Thank you; left Lady Cochrane well, eight days ago." The "Macedonian" then ran under the lee of the other ship, backed her topsails, and Captain Downes sent his first lieutenant to Lord Coch- rane, with his compliments. He then filled away and entered the harbor. When the "Mace- donian" had anchored, Lord Cochrane sent Cap- tain Forster, his flag-captain, who was his brother- in-law, with his respects to Captain Downes. Cap- tain Forster was somewhat surprised to find that the cabins had been removed and a gun placed wherever there was room for one, and that the men were all at quarters.
To return to Daniels. In 1845 Venezuela passed a law granting him a pension for life. Lieutenant Christie, formerly of the United States navy, served under him on the "Bolivar" in 1822. It must have been about this^time that Lieutenant Hawley, of Bal-
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timore, a brother of Miss Betsey Hawley of that city, was also serving in that navy.
On the 26th day of January, 1813, the young Alexander Macauley, whose family seem also to have resided in Baltimore, although he was born in New York City, and who had been serving for at least two years in the Colombian patriot army, was shot at Pasto, Colombia, by the Spanish forces who had taken him prisoner. His brilliant victory over the Spaniards of Popayan, on April 2/th, 1811, is still remembered, and is favorably commented on by Colombian historians. A short time thereafter he was ordered by the patriot General Cabal to go to the aid of President Joaquim Caicedo, who was then im- prisoned in Pasto, and after several checks he was victorious at Juanambu and Buesaco. By the armis- tice of July 26th Caicedo was freed from Pasto, and not long afterwards Macaulay won another victory over the royalist forces at Calambuco, on August 1 2th, 1811. He had the grade of colonel in the Colombian army.
William Yeates and Nathaniel Doolett served in the Brazilian navy about the year 1820.
CHAPTER III
THE WILKES EXPLORING EXPEDITION IN BRAZIL, AR- GENTINA, CHILE AND PERU IN 1838-1839
A /THOUGH that sterling Pan-American, John Quincy Adams, had, as early as 1828, while President of the United States of America, advocated an exploring expedition to the South Seas, it was not until May i8th, 1836, that an Act of-Congress of the United States of America authorized an expedition "for the purpose of exploring and surveying in the great Southern Ocean in the important interests of our commerce embarked in the whale fisheries and other adventures in that ocean, as well as to de- termine the existence of all doubtful islands and shoals, and to discover and accurately fix the position of those which lie in or near the track pursued by our merchant vessels in that quarter." This expedition was the first of its character ever undertaken by the United States of America, and its aims were strikingly similar to that of Diego de Barrenechea, when he sailed forth from Callao, Peru, in September, 1772, to Tahiti, under the auspices of the great Peruvian Vice- roy Amat y Junient. The interest displayed in her sister republics seventy-five years ago by the United States of America is shown by the fact that Lieuten- ant Charles Wilkes, U. S. N. (1798-1877), who was
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ordered on August nth, 1838, to command the squadron on this expedition was instructed to visit Rio de Janeiro, Cape Frio, the Rio Negro, Tierra del Fuego, and Valparaiso. Possibly their touching at these South American points was due to the fact that Joel Roberts Poinsett was then Secretary of War of the United States of America. Twenty-eight years before he had been appointed the first representative of the United States of America to Argentina, Chile and Peru, and his career in Chile and Argentina has been outlined in an article in the Pan-American Bul- letin for September, 1911.
The journeys of the adventurous Ohioan John N. Reynolds in Southern Chile in 1830 and 1831 had much to do with inspiring this expedition. The squadron sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, on August 1 3th, 1838. It consisted of the sloops of war "Vin- cennes" and "Peacock," the store-ship "Relief," the brig "Porpoise," and the tenders "Seagull" and "Flying Fish." Many distinguished scientists were on board — probably as notable a group as could have been sent from the United States of America at that time. Dr. Charles Pickering was the naturalist of the expedition ; he made important contributions to its success, especially by his writings on anthro- pology and on the study of the geographical distribu- tion of animals and plants, to the latter especially, as af- fected by or as evidence of the operations, movements, and diffusion of the races of man. A graduate of
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Harvard University, he was a nephew of the Secre- tary of State (Timothy Pickering), who had instructed the United States Minister at Lisbon in 1797 to make a complete report on Brazil. His nephew, Dr. Charles Pickering Bowditch, is an authority on the Mayas of Yucatan.
Horatio Hale was the philologist and ethnographer of the expedition. While an undergraduate at Har- vard (where he graduated in 1837) ne nacl written a small pamphlet on the Algonquin language. His chief contribution to the permanent results of the expedi- tion was a collection of very valuable material relating to the ethnology and dialects of the Patagonian tribes encountered by the expedition.
But the most distinguished scientist on board was James Dwight Dana (1813-1895), who was for over forty years Silliman Professor of Natural History in Yale University, and is generally considered one of the most renowned men of science of modern times. He was president of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, and received high honors from many European governments. The early inspirations he received from his scientific explorations and studies in South America may be compared to those that aroused the genius of his friend Darwin but six years before, and he loved to dwell on the impressions that the lofty Chilean and Peruvian Cor- dilleras had made on him when he addressed his stu- dents at Yale, the university that welcomed Francisco
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de Miranda, pioneer of South American liberty, in 1 784, and which received the bounty of David C. de Forest, who was in Buenos Aires as early as 1807, and who died in New Haven in 1824.
On November 23rd, 1838, the expedition reached Rio de Janeiro, whence it sailed January 6th, 1839. Captain Wilkes notes that "the Brazilians have a strong bias in favor of the United States, and of the American Government generally. They think the time is coming which will unite the people of this continent in a distinct national policy." Captain Wilkes notes that Rio de Janeiro had then 250,000 people, and that in 1835 a sailing ship had gone from New York to Rio de Janeiro in the phenomenal time of twenty-nine days. On January 6th, 1839, the ex- pedition sailed from Rio, where many interesting specimens and much data had been collected ; and on the 1 8th of January they passed opposite the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. On the 25th of the same month they were off Carmen de Patagones on the Rio Negro, whence they sailed, after exploring the en- virons somewhat. They found several citizens of the United States of America settled near there, on Feb- ruary 3rd. On February 27th the expedition left Nassau Bay, and after meeting with very tempestuous weather near Cape Horn on April I4th, 1839, the "Relief" arrived at Valparaiso; the "Vincennes" followed her, reaching that Chilean port on May I5th, 1839. Valparaiso then had about 30,000 inhabitants ;
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there were then eighty vessels flying the Stars and Stripes engaged in the Chilean trade, and a con- siderable number of United States merchants doing business there, among whom were Mr. Augustus Hemenway, the benefactions of whose family are so well known in and near Boston, Massachusetts, who had come to Valparaiso in 1830. President Bulnes and the great Chilean statesman Portales visited the ships and were much pleased with them. Wilkes wrote as follows of Valparaiso : "I have had some opportunity of knowing Valparaiso, and contrasting its present state with that of 1821 and 1822. It was then a mere village of straggling ranchos. It has now the appearance of a thickly settled town, with a pop- ulation of 30,000, five times the number it had then. Most of the buildings are of one story, and built of sun-dried brick. Santiago contains 60,000 inhabi- tants, and is increasing in wealth and population."
From Valparaiso Dana wrote to his sister Harriet on May 29th, 1839: "We left Santiago in a gig for the foot of the mountain, which was distant about fifteen miles. A ride of two hours brought us to our stopping place. Here we procured a guide who was accustomed to the route, and, mounting our horses, commenced the ascent. Our path at first ran along a deep valley, through which a little water was gur- gling quietly along ; only a temporary quiet, however, as the torrents rush down the gorge with tremendous violence during the thawing of the mountain snows.
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Winding our way up the sides of the valley, we reached an open square, covered here and there with a little shrubbery, along which our route continued for an hour or two with little to interest or attract at- tention. As we advanced, however, the scenery of the mountains increased in grandeur, and the acclivity became more steep and difficult for the horses. Our ears were often saluted with a noise much resembling the watchman's rattle, which, on nearer approach, was found to proceed from guanacos, an animal of the deer species, which lives on the mountain. After about four hours' toilsome ride, we reached the sum- mit of an elevated ridge, from which we looked down on the surrounding country. It was a most magnifi- cent scene — the fertile plains of Santiago, the numer- ous mountain ridges surrounding it, and towering above all, the Andes, mantled with snow and streaked along as far as the eye could reach, make one of the most glorious prospects any country can show. We now turned to the right, following the summit of this ridge, making a gradual ascent, and in the course of half an hour came in sight of the snowy peak we had before seen back in Santiago. A valley of about 4,000 feet separated us from it; and from its bottom this peak rose up to a height of at least 8,000 feet, the most perfect picture of utter desolation I ever wit- nessed. It was a scene that I not only saw, but could feel through my whole system — it was so impressively, so awfully grand. It appeared like an immense volcano
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whose fires were but just extinguished. We contin- ued in sight of the peak the remainder of our route. At 4 o'clock pfk. we reached the region of snow, and a desolate region it was. A few tufty Alpine plants were seen where a streamlet was running down the valleys — all else was dreary and lifeless. We col- lected some of the plants and rocks, and as it began to grow dark soon after sundown — about 6 P.M. — we early prepared for our night's accommodations. We laid down our furs, etc., which we had brought up under our saddles, and formed as soft a place as we could to rest our bodies — placed the saddles near our heads to keep off the winds, and then snugly stowed ourselves away under three thick blankets. The winds whistled over us by night, and in the morning we found ice one-half an inch thick but a few rods off; but we were tolerably comfortable and made out to get about eight hours' sleep out of the twelve we were in bed — between dark in the evening and the next morning's dawn. Our poor horses stood up all night long without anything to cover them and nothing to eat — an example of the utter indifference of the Chil- eans to the comforts of their animals. We finished the small stock of provisions we had with us in the morning and commenced our descent on foot, in or- der to make collections of specimens along the way. Seven hours found us at the foot, and in two more we reached Santiago. The trip, though one of exposure, had no injurious effects upon my health. Indeed I
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never felt better than when up the mountain. We only reached the limits of perpetual snow. The mountains yet rose some four or five thousand feet above us.
" Santiago is the finest city in Chile, and much the largest It is the residence of all the wealth and aristocracy of the country, and some of the houses are very beautiful ; the part fronting the street never gives any idea of the richness of the building within the court"
From Valparaiso the squadron proceeded to Callao, whence it sailed for Tahiti on July I3th, 1839. While in Peru many points of interest were visited, includ- ing the ruins of Pachacamac ; and Dr. Pickering ascended the Andes to a height of 16,000 feet, dis- covering a large ammonite near this altitude. Dana himself attained the height of 12,000 feet, and writes thus of his experience: "The Andes were the first objects we saw on approaching the coast They form the background in the Chilean and Peruvian land- scape. The eye climbs mountain beyond mountain in the front of the scene, and finally rests on the snowy summits of this towering ridge. The general character of it was more massy, more even in its out- line, and unbroken in its surface than my fancy had pictured to me. Here and there, however, conical peaks tower aloft, and by their wide, turreted shapes and columnar structure diversify the character and heighten the grandeur of the scene. I made two ex-
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cursions among the Cordilleras, and in one reached an elevation of 12,000 feet I had the pleasure of sleeping through a windy night near several acres of perpetual snows. Water froze half an inch thick within a few feet of us ; but the interest the scene had excited, together with a couple of blankets, and a fire of Alpine plants, kept us comfortable through twelve hours of darkness. These Alpine plants, as they were the first I had seen of them, astonished and delighted me with their singularities. Although regular flower- ing plants, they grow together in the form of a short tuft, the whole so hard and the leaves so closely com- pacted that the foot struck against them scarcely makes more impression than on the adjoining rocks ; they can prevent in these wintry regions the escape of the little heat they originate. One little flower par- ticularly attracted my attention, and led my mind up- ward to Him whose wisdom and goodness were here displayed. It was scarce an inch high and stood by itself, here and there one, over the bleak, rocky soil. A small tuft of leaves densely covered with down above formed a warm repose for a single flower which spread over it its purple petals. I should delight to add some of these strange forms of vegetation to Ben- jamin's flower-garden. But they lose all their pecu- liarities in a warmer climate. Even the hard Alpine turf, a few hundred feet below, spreads out and as- sumes the forms of the plants of temperate latitudes. I find that these mountains are mostly composed of —
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I was about to transgress. I, however, may state that I have been highly interested in the geology of this region, and I only regret that I had no opportunity to make my observations more extensive by crossing the mountains to Mendoza, situated at their eastern foot. Dr. Pickering, Mr. Rich and others who were at Lima much of the time our vessel remained at Val- paraiso, ascended and passed the summit of the Peru- vian Andes. They reached an elevation exceeding 16,000 feet. I will add one fact, as the knowledge of it by yourself will prove of no injury to the expedi- tion ; it is, that Dr. Pickering collected a large am- monite near the summit of the Andes at 16,000 feet elevation. The existence of extensive deposits of red sandstone and accompanying shales in this part of the Andes has long been known."
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CHAPTER IV THE PAN-AMERICANISM OF HENRY CLAY
WHEN on February gth, 1852, Henry Clay's admiring friends presented him with a gold medal, at the sunset of his long and useful life, on the reverse of which were inscribed the dates by which he wished to be remembered, the two of the fourteen that had the most prominent place were "Spanish America, 1822"; and "Panama Instructions, 1826."
The visitor to the capitol of the United States of America sees hanging in one of the large corridors near the meeting-place of the House of Representa- tives a large portrait of Henry Clay, with his index finger pointing to South America on a large globe of the world. It was thus that he wished the future law- makers of his country — those who would control its destiny — to remember him.
This is the man to whom the distinguished Argen- tine author, Dr. Miguel Cane, in his Introduction to the 1905 edition of President Roque Saenz Pena's speeches, says that a statute should be erected in every South American capital ; and that his name — the name of the "noble and kind-hearted Clay" — should be on one of the streets in Buenos Aires.
Let us see on what actions these fellow Pan- Americans, six thousand miles away, base their regard
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for the great Kentuckian who has been dead, but not forgotten, for sixty-five years.
On January 29th, 1816, while the South American wars for independence were raging, Henry Clay, who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America, opposed, in a long speech, the reduction of the taxes imposed as a con- sequence of the War of 1812, because, among other reasons, the United States might have openly "to take part with the patriots of South America." Nearly a year later, on January 24th, 1817, he vigorously op- posed a bill intended to stop the fitting out of armed cruisers in the United States ports, on the ground that it might be disadvantageous to the South Amer- icans, who were still nobly maintaining their struggle for freedom. On December 3rd, 1817, the day be- fore the U. S. frigate "Congress" sailed for Buenos Aires with Commissioners Graham, Bland and Rodney on board, Clay offered a motion in the House, which was accepted without opposition, instructing the com- mittee on the President's message to inquire what was necessary to secure the South Americans their rights as belligerents.
But it was on March 24th, 1 8 1 8, that his soundest and most historically Pan-American speech was de- livered in the House of Representatives, — when he besought the aid of the United States for their fellow- Americans, for "eighteen millions of people struggling to burst their chains and be free." The nature of
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this classic oration can be judged from the following extract therefrom : —
In the establishment of the independence of Spanish America, the United States have the deepest interest. I have no hesitation in assert- ing my firm belief that there is no question in the foreign policy of this country which has ever arisen, or which I can conceive as ever occurring, in the decision of which we had or can have so much at stake. This interest concerns our politics, our commerce, our navigation. There can not be a doubt that Spanish America, once independent, whatever may be the form of the governments established in its several parts, these governments will be animated by an American feeling and guided by an American policy. They will obey the laws of the New World, of which they will compose a part ....
We are their great example. Of us they con- stantly speak as of brothers, having a similar origin. They adopt our principles, copy our in- stitutions, and in many instances employ the very language and sentiments of our revolutionary papers.
But it is sometimes said that they are too ignorant and too superstitious to admit of the ex- istance of free government. This charge of igno- rance is often urged by persons themselves actually ignorant of the real condition of that people. I deny the alleged fact of ignorance ; I deny the inference from that fact, if it were true, that they want capacity for free government ; and I refuse assent to the further conclusion, if the
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fact were true, and the inference just, that we are to be indifferent to their fate. All the writers of the most established authority, Depons, Hum- boldt, and others, concur in assigning to the peo- ple of South America, great quickness, genius, and particular aptitude for the acquisition of the exact sciences, and others which they have been allowed to cultivate. In astronomy, geology, mineralogy, chemistry, botany, and so forth, they are allowed to make distinguished proficiency. They justly boast of their Abzate, Velasques and Gama, and other illustrious contributors to science. They have nine universities, and in the City of Mexico, it is affirmed by Humboldt, that there are more solid scientific establishments than in any city even in North America. I would refer to the message of the Supreme Director of La Plata [Pueyrreddn] as a model of composition of a State paper, chal- lenging the comparison with any, the most cele- brated, that ever issued from the pens of Jefferson
or Madison
We may safely trust to the daring enterprise of our merchants. The precious metals are in South America, and they will command the articles wanted in South America, which will purchase them. Our navigation will be benefited by the transportation, and our country will realize the mercantile profits. Already the item in our ex- ports of American manufactures is respectable. They go chiefly to the West Indies and to South America, and this item is constantly augmenting.
How clearly the allusions in this speech show Clay's carefully concise study of Latin-American his-
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tory and conditions ! Joaquin Velasques (July 2 1st, 1732-March 6th, 1786) was one of the most distin- guished of the many noted astronomers whom Mexico has produced. He was the author of many valuable works on Mexican and Californian natural history and mineralogy. His astronomical observations in Cali- fornia, which are among the very first in that part of the world, where the great Lick observatory now con- tinues his labors, are especially noteworthy in view of his observations of the transit ot Venus on June 5th, 1 769. His labors in connection with the typograph- ical and geodetic survey of the Valley of Mexico, with whose superintendence he was charged in 1774, are the basis of all the excellent systems of surveys for which our sister Republic of Mexico is noted. In 1783 he established in Mexico the first schools of mines in North America.
But Henry Clay's efforts did not stop with his speech. On May 2Oth, 1820, he introduced a motion in the House of Representatives to inaugurate diplo- matic intercourse with "any of the governments in South America which have established and are main- taining their independence of Spain." It passed by a vote of eighty to seventy-five. On February 6th, 1821, Clay secured the passage of a resolution by the House of Representatives "That the House of Repre- sentatives participate with the people of the United States in the deep interest which they feel for the Spanish Provinces of South America, which are strug-
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gling to establish their liberty and independence, and that it will give its constitutional support to the President of the United States whenever he may deem it expedient to recognize the sovereignty and independence of the said Provinces"; the first clause of this important legislative decision being passed by a vote of one hundred and thirty-four to twelve, and the second by a vote of eighty-seven to sixty-eight.
As a result of this action, President Monroe sent a special message to Congress on March 8th, 1822, and "A resolution to establish foreign intercourse with the independent nations of South America " was passed by a vote of one hundred and fifty-nine to one. This measure became a law on May 4th, 1822; and on June 2Oth, 1822, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams proposed to President Monroe that the mis- sion of the United States of America to the Republic of Colombia should be offered to Henry Clay. He informed the President that "The Republic of Colom- bia, and particularly Bolivar, with whom Clay has been in correspondence, will be flattered by his ap- pointment, or even by information that he had the offer of it In relations to be established between us and that Republic, Mr. Clay's talents might be highly useful"; and the President appeared to be well dis- posed toward this suggestion. An important event in Pan-American history had occured the day before which rendered it imperative that the mission of the
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United States to the sister Repubic of Colombia, in whose beautiful city of Bogota the patriot Antonio Narino had portraits of Franklin in his house as early as 1793, should be filled as soon as possible. It was on June ipth, 1822, that the first formal act of recog- nition of the South American Government took place, when Secretary Adams presented Mr. Samuel Torres to President Monroe as Charge d' Affaires from the Republic of Colombia, at the White House. Mr. Adams notes in his diary that "Torres was deeply affected by it. He spoke of the great importance to the Republic of Colombia of this recognition, and of his assurance that it would give extraordinary gratifi- cation to Bolivar."
It was certainly gratifying to President Monroe. He invited Torres, who was then very ill (he died in Philadelphia on July I5th, 1822, in great distress), to be seated, sat down by him, and spoke to him with kindness, "which moved him even to tears." He assured him of the great interest taken by the United States in the welfare and success of his country, and of the peculiar satisfaction with which he received him as its representative.
On this very igth of June a letter was written to Henry Clay by Captain Eugenio Cortes, of the Mexi- can navy, which shows how he was regarded in Mexico, enclosing one from the Emperor Agustin de Iturbide, which shows how Clay was regarded in Latin America.
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A year later we find a similar Pan-American mani- festation in the following letter written to the Charge d' Affaires of the United States of America from the House of Representatives of the Republic of Colom- bia, eager to show its appreciation of the cooperation of one of the most prominent men in the country, which the distinguished Ecuadorian Rocafuerte called "The Sister Republic of the North": —
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
BOGOTA, April 25, 1823.
To MR. C. S. TODD, Charge d' Affaires :
The House of Representatives has received with the most lively sense of gratitude the valuable present [an engraved portrait of Henry Clay] you have had the goodness to offer. It duly appreciates the generous sentiments manifested in the ad- dress with which you accompanied it ; sentiments very worthy of the country of Washington and Franklin.
The House will not fail to pay that profound tribute of respect which is due to the Honorable Henry Clay, the intrepid advocate of the cause of Colombia; and while it reserves to itself the oc- casion of manifesting in a more conspicuous man- ner the high esteem of which he is worthy, you will condescend to communicate to him the wishes which the House cherishes for the prosperity of the United States.
God guard you.
[Signed] DOMINGO CAYCEDO,
President of the House.
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It was at this time that engraved portraits of Henry Clay, with extracts from his speeches advocating South American independence, were scattered broad- cast about the leading cities and towns of South America. One of these, published in Buenos Aires, now hangs on the walls of the United States Embassy in that beautiful Argentine capital.
When Henry Clay became Secretary of State of the United States of America in March, 1825, a broader sphere of Pan-American activity was presented to him. His zeal to promote the brotherhood of the American nations had now wider opportunities, and his responsibility was great in furthering what must be regarded as one of the main purposes of his useful and constructive life. His efforts to make the Con- gress of Panama in 1826 a success from a truly Pan- American point of view are typical of his sustained interest, which marks him as the precursor of James G. Elaine, Joaquim Nabuco, and many other great Pan-Americans, whose happy influence leads us to follow and imitate them.
As soon as the intention of Simon Bolivar — who, as we have seen, greatly admired Clay — to hold this first parliament of all the Americas, which had been urged as early as 1810 by Juan Martinez de Rosas in Chile, by the Mexican Mier, in 1812, and by the Junta of Caracas in Venezuela, and had since been pro- moted by San Martin and Unanue in South and Valle in Central America, became known to him, he bent all
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his official and personal energies toward that end. As the historian Schouler says, "His zeal won President John Quincy Adams's favor to the plan and dissolved the doubts of his fellow-advisers." Not all of them could have doubted ; Rush, the Secretary of the Treasury, had been most Pan-American in his con- duct as United States Minister to England ; and At- torney-General William Wirt had expressed himself as the friend of his fellow-Americans. Clay frequently consulted with Senor Obregon, the Mexican Minister, as well as with Senor Salazar, the Colombian Minister, and the other Latin- American representatives in Wash- ington, including General Carlos deAlvearfrom Buenos Aires — to whom, by the way, the first special passport ever issued by the State Department was granted.
In 1827 the young Fernando Bolivar, nephew and ward of the great Liberator, who had had him edu- cated in the United States of America, at German- town, Pennsylvania, and at the University of Virginia, was introduced by Judge Peters to Henry Clay. Forty-six years later he noted in his Reminiscences the impressions that Clay's tall, slender and impres- sive figure and penetrating blue eyes made on him. We can be very sure that when Fernando returned to Bogota, where his illustrious uncle was then living, he told him of his meeting with this great Pan-American ; and, as Bolivar and Clay had long been in correspon- dence, any news direct from the North must have been doubly agreeable to the great caraqueno.
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It is not generally known that, in his efforts to have as important a delegation as possible from the United States at that momentous gathering, he urged Albert Gallatin, one of the most distinguished citizens of the United States, who had been for thirteen years Secre- tary of the Treasury, and was soon afterward appointed Minister to England, to be one of the representatives of the United States of America at Panama. Galla- tin's reply to Clay's offer of this mission, written on November I4th, 1825, breathes the Pan-American spirit: —
No one can be more sensible than I am, both of the importance of laying the foundation of a permanent friendship between the United States and our sister Republics, and of the distinguished honor conferred on the persons selected to be the representatives of our glorious and happy country at the first Congress of the Independent Powers of this Hemisphere
Secretary Clay was very careful to choose able and distinguished men for all of his Latin-American ap- pointments. Poinsett and Forbes, at Mexico and Buenos Aires, were among the best-trained diplo- matists of the United States of America; William Henry Harrison, who was sent to Bogota, was after- ward President of the United Stares of America; Condy Raguet, at Rio de Janeiro, came of a well- known Philadelphia family, and was himself prominent (a beautiful piece of furniture given him by Dom Pedro
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I, of Brazil, now in the possession of the family of the writer, shows how he was appreciated in that great Portuguese-speaking country); William Tudor, at Lima, was a prominent merchant and first editor of the North American Review, who afterward died as United States Charge d' Affaires at Rio de Janeiro in 1830; and Herman Allen, in Chile, was an able Ver- mont lawyer, whose talents were needed on the busy west coast
It is a beautiful and inspiring touch of the many- sided character of Henry Clay, that so much of his public service should have been so inspired by Pan- Americanism.
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CHAPTER V THE PAN-AMERICAN ORIGIN OF THE MONROE DOCTRINE
SO much has been written regarding the origin of the Monroe Doctrine and on the supposed effects of the various causes contributing to its origin, toward its application at various times to different situations, that the only excuse that can be offered for discussing this phase of it must be to cover it from some fresh point of view.
The distinguished Peruvian diplomatist and author, Dr. Anibal Maurtua, on page 20 of his book "La Idea Panamericana y la cuestidn de Arbitraje," published in Lima in 1901, refers to President Monroe's message of December 2nd, 1823, announcing the Monroe Doctrine, as a "Pan-American Declaration." The great Argentine international jurist, Carlos Calvo, called it " declaratory of complete American inde- pendence," and the Peruvian author, Carlos Arenas y Loayza, states in his excellent monograph on the Monroe Doctrine, published in Lima in 1905, that "the Monroe Doctrine is linked with our past and with our present, and gives us the key of the future of these republics, considered in relation to the events of our times and the indications of the future ; which republics, extending over the same continent, form one sole body, are called on to have one and the same
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spirit, and to work in accord, in edifying friendship for justice and peace on earth."
Whence comes this Pan-American nature of the Monroe Doctrine? It comes from its Pan-American origin.
In the instructions of Secretary Monroe to Alex- ander Scott, agent of the United States of America to Venezuela, dated May I4th, 1812, we find the follow- ing statement: —
The United States are disposed to render to the Government of Venezuela, in its relations with foreign Powers, all the good offices that they may be able. Instructions have been already given to their Ministers at Paris, St. Petersburg, and Lon- don, to make known to those Courts that the United States take an interest in the independence of the Spanish Provinces.
The next link in the chain occurs in July, 1821, two years and six months before the famous Doctrine was actually issued, in a dispatch from Mr. Thomas L. L. Brent, American Charge d' Affaires at Madrid, to the Secretary of State, dated July loth, 1821 : —
As far as I have been able to form an opinion, it is, that the foreign Powers during the agitation of the American question, have endeavored to prevent any arrangement between the parties.
On the Qth of July Mr. Brent had an interview with Mr. Ravenga, one of the commissioners of Bolivia, at Mr. Ravenga's request: —
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He calculated, he said, upon the friendship of the United States to promote the independence of the Republic of Colombia; he had a full con- viction that he could rely upon it Mr. Monroe, when Secretary of State, had informed him that all the Ministers of the United States in Europe had instructions to advance the acknowledgment of their independence by foreign Powers.
I sympathized with him in the unpleasant situa- tion in which he was placed, and feared that the sentiment in Spain was not as favorable as could be desired. He was perfectly justified, I said, in relying upon the good dispositions of the United States. It was their interest and their sincere wish that the acknowledgment of the independence of South America should be accelerated. The United States had not only been more forward than any other Power in publishing to the world their wishes with respect to her, but had accom- panied them with actions, which certainly afforded the best proof of their sincerity, and among them, I adverted to the message of the President to the Congress of the United States at the commence- ment of its last session, in which, alluding to the proposed negotiation between the late colonies and Spain, the basis of which, if entered upon, would be the acknowledgment of their independ- ence, he says : "To promote that result by friendly counsels, including Spain herself, has been the uniform policy of the Government of the United States."
The friendship of the United States, he said, was very grateful to the Republic of Colombia, and he hoped and expected that, at the commencement of
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the next meeting of Congress, the acknowledg- ment of its independence would be decided upon; the moment had arrived when all the Powers of the world would see the propriety of it. He cal- culated that the United States would be the first to take this step ; hoped to see a confederacy of re- publics through North and South America, united by the strongest ties of friendship and interest, and he trusted that I would use my exertions to promote the object he so much desired.
I heartily concurred with him in the hope that all governments would resolve to adopt a measure so conformable to justice ; joined with him in the agreeable anticipations of the progress of free principles of government, of the intimate union and brilliant prospects of the states of our new world. I presumed, I said, it was not necessary to bring to his mind the high interest felt by the United States in their welfare — an interest in which I deeply participated, and desired, as much > as he possibly could, the happiness of our Spanish- American brethren. What would be the deter- mination of the United States at the period of the commencement of Congress, it was impossible for me to forsee : whether they would consider it a seasonable moment for doing that which was so much desired, was a point I could not resolve.
Six months later a request came from the first Latin-American Minister ever received by the United States of America, Manuel Torres, of Colombia (see the previous chapter, on the "Pan- Americanism of Henry Clay"), for the United States to announce the Monroe Doctrine : —
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The glory and the satisfaction of being the first to recognize the independence of a new republic in the south of this continent belongs, in all re- spect and considerations, to the Government of the United States. The present political state of New Spain requires the most earnest attention of the Government of the United States. There has occurred a project, long since formed, to establish a monarchy in Mexico, on purpose to favor the views of the Holy Alliance in the New World ; this is a new reason which ought to determine the President of the United States no longer to delay a measure which will naturally establish an Amer- ican Alliance, capable of counteracting the projects of the European Powers, and of protecting Re- publican institutions. My Government has entire confidence in the prudence of the President, in his disposition to favor the cause of liberty and of the independence of South America, and his great experience in the management of public business. — [i/th Congress, ist Session, No. 327 — Manuel Torres to the Secretary of State, Philadel- phia, November 3Oth, 1821.]
It will be noted that this was written over two years before the Monroe Doctrine was actually declared on December 2nd, 1823.
The following extract from an instruction from Sec- retary of State John Quincy Adams to the first United States Minister to Colombia, Richard C. Anderson, dated May 27th, 1823, six months before the decla- ration of the Monroe Doctrine, continues the trend of events : —
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The Colombian Government, at various times, have manifested a desire that the United States should take some further and active part in ob- taining the recognition of their independence by the European Governments and particularly by Great Britain. This has been done even before it was solicited. All the Ministers from the United States in Europe have been instructed to promote the cause, by any means consistent with propriety, and adopted to their end at the respective places of their residence. The formal proposal of a con- certed recognition was made to Great Britain before the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle. At the re- quest of Mr. Torres, on his dying bed, and signi- fied to us after his decease, Mr. Rush was instructed to give every aid in his power, without offense to the British Government, to obtain the admission of Mr. Ravenga [see Mr. Brent's dispatch regarding Mr. Ravenga, printed above]; of which instruc- tion, we have recent assurance from Mr. Rush that he is constantly mindful. Our own recognition, undoubtedly, opened all the ports of Europe to the Colombian flag, and your mission to Colom- bia, as well as those to Buesnos Aires and Chile, cannot fail to stimulate the cabinets of maritime Europe, if not by the liberal motives that in- fluenced us, at least, by selfish impulse, to a di- rect, simple and unconditional recognition. We shall pursue this policy steadily through all the changes to be foreseen, of European affairs. There is every reason to believe that the pre- pondering tendency of the war in Spain will be to promote the universal recognition of the South American Governments, and, at all events, our
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course will be to promote it by whatever influence we may possess.
In this connection the following extract from a let- ter from Lafayette to Henry Clay, dated December 29th, 1826, is interesting: —
How do you find Mr. Canning's assertion in the British Parliament, that he, Mr. Canning, has called to existence the new Republics of the American Hemisphere? when it is known by what example, what declaration, and what feelings of jealousy the British Government has been dragged into a slow, gradual, and conditional recognition of that independence. — [Vol. IV, page 155, Works of Clay, 1856 edition.]
From the foregoing it will be deducted that —
(1) The South Americans asked for the Monroe Doctrine ;
(2) Their doing so gave it, from its inception, a Pan-American nature;
(3) Their asking for it furnishes an additional argu- ment for its purely American, as contrasted with its supposedly Americo-British, origin.
(4) Such early action on the part of Latin America should not be lost sight of in present-day applications of the Monroe Doctrine.
The following quotation from a pamphlet published in 1902 by the late William L. Scruggs, formerly United States Minister to Colombia and Venezuela, supports the foregoing sentiments of Lafayette : —
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It has been said and repeated often enough to gain some degree of credence, that the first sug- gestion of the Monroe Doctrine had an European origin. The claim is that the British Premier Mr. Canning suggested it to Mr. Rush, during their personal conference in September, 1823, relative to the designs of the so-called " Holy Alliance " upon the newly enfranchised Spanish-American republics.
The absurdity of this claim is too manifest for serious consideration. In the first place, the Can- ning-Rush conference did not take place until two months after the date of Mr. Adams' note to Mr. Rush nor until a month and a half after Mr. Adams' oral declarations to the Russian Minister. Hence the impossibility that the suggestion could have come from Mr. Canning and at the time and place indicated ; and it has never been intimated, much less asserted, that it came from him at any time prior to that. In the second place, we have Mr. Canning's own words in refutation of the claim which, in the absence of rebutting evidence, ought to be conclusive. In a letter addressed to the British Minister at Madrid, dated December 2ist, 1823 (see Stapleton's "Canning and His Times," P- 395> Whartori s Digest, Sec. 57), he uses this language: "Monarchy in Mexico and Brazil could cure the evils of universal democracy, and prevent the drawing of a demarcation which I most dread — America versus Europe."
And further on, in the same letter, speaking of his conference with Mr. Rush he says: "While I was yet hesitating, in September last, what shape to give the proposed declaration and protest
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[against the designs of the Holy Alliance], I sounded Mr. Rush, the American Minister here, as to his powers and disposition to join in any step which we might take to prevent a hostile enterprise by European powers against Spanish America. He had no powers ; but he would have taken upon himself to join us if we would have begun by recognizing the independence of the Spanish- American States. This we could not do, and so we went on without But I have no doubt that his report to his Government of this sounding, which he probably represented as an overture, had something to do in hastening tjie explicit declara- tion of the President"
This letter, it will be observed, was written nine- teen days after the date of Mr. Monroe's message to Congress.
The point is that Mr. Canning deliberately placed himself on record as opposed to the Doc- trine enunciated in both the message and the note, and hence could not have inspired either.
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CHAPTER VI
DIVERSIONS IN EUSCARAN : A STUDY IN PERSISTENTLY INFLUENTIAL HEREDITY
IT IS a strange language, this Euscaran, or Basque ; by far the most unique and distinctly interesting of all the twenty-eight tongues in which one may telephone in this great cosmopolitan city of Buenos Aires. But it is stranger still, when we come to study the Spanish settlement and colonization of the New World, called America, how these same Basques, who comprise only three per cent of the population of Spain and who have never occupied more than one and one-half per cent of its area since Spain has become a united kingdom, should have been to all Spanish America what the Dorian hive was to Greece, or New England to the United States of America. For they stretch from California to Cape Horn ; and we find the Basque Elisa active in the Spanish settle- ment at Nootka Sound in 1789, which was as far north as the Spaniards ever tried to settle. There have been French Basques enough in Canada itself; but that is another story.
Not very long ago the governor of the northern- most Mexican province, and the mayor of Punta Arenas in Chile, the southernmost city in the world, were Basques ; and it is only thirteen years since three
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Basques were, all at one and the same time, presidents of the Argentine Republic, Chile, and Uruguay, — Uriburu, Errazuriz, and Idiarte Borda. This coinci- dence merely repeated what had happened about one hundred years before, when Mendinueta was Viceroy of New Granada at the same time that Azanza was Viceroy of Mexico. As regards the explorers and discoverers, both Buenos Aires and Montevideo were founded by Basques, Juan de Garay and Pedro de Zavala; La Rioja and Jujuy were both founded by another Basque, Juan Ramirez de. Velasco ; Pascual de Andagoya was the first governor of the city of Panama; and Martin de Zubieta explored the Straits of Magellan in 1581. Long before this, Magellan's second in command, Sebastian d' Elcano, the first captain to round the world, also came from the Basque provinces. Martin Garcia de Loyola, a cousin of the great Basque theologian Ignatius de Loyola, who founded the Jesuit order, married a niece of the last Inca of Peru ; Echegoyen was a colonial administrator in Santo Domingo; while Diego de Ibarra explored that part of Mexico which he called Nueva Vizcaya for his native land. Remember, also, that Uruguay was once called Nueva Vizcaya. The great river Parana was first explored and developed by Diego Martinez de Irala and his Basques in 1548.
I really cannot agree with M. Julien Vinson (though what does he not know about the Basques?) when he says, "Mais le cerveu des Basques est rebelle aux
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sciences positives." Perhaps there may be; but the exceptions almost prove the rule. I am willing to grant that there may have been many Basques — we will discuss some of them a little later on — who were noted for their literary attainments of various kinds ; but nobody can convince me that when this morning's paper says that young Inocentio Mendieta, a Cuban Basque boy, is looked on with longing eyes by Man- ager Clark Griffith for the Washington baseball team, that there are not some Basques who are familar with one of the greatest of modern positive sciences.
Again, is not sheep-farming and sheep-raising a pos- itive science? My friend Mr. Onagoity sells about 3,000 sheep a day to one soulless corporation or another; injact almost all the present meat supply that we are drawing from Argentina is handled by Basques in one way or another. Ten to one it was a Basque shepherd or herdsman that took care of the cow or sheep whose meat will soon lie upon the breakfast table of the United States public in general, when it roamed in a primitive condition over the pam- pas of the Rio Negro or of Buenos Aires province.
Is not seamanship a positive science? The great Spanish admiral Oquendo, prominent in the first half of the seventeenth century, and Alava y Navrete, famous for his circumnavigation of the globe in 1791, as well as Commander Ugarriza of the Argentine navy, who superintended the construction of the Argentine dreadnaught "Rivadavia" at Fore River, all
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of them Basques, were certainly practical sailors. "All is lost save honor," said Francis I of France, when taken a prisoner by a Basque soldier, Juan de Urbieta.
Though the Basque provinces were free from mili- tary service until 1876, when they were finally and fully incorporated into the rest of Spain, they produced soldiers enough in both the Old and the New World. Zumalacarregui was the backbone of the Carlist strug- gle of 1833-39, while the name of Simon Bolivar — of almost pure Euscaran ancestry — needs no comment. He was not the only Basque to play a prominent part in the Spanish-American War of Independence. Ac- cording to the Venezuelan historian Aristides Rojas, at least fifty of his Venezuelan companions were Basques; while Necochea, Azcuenaga, Larrea, Urdi- ninea, Uriondo in Argentina, Zanartu in Chile, Oribe in Uruguay, Unanue in Peru, Urdaneta in Venezuela, and Iturbide in Mexico, were of the same stock. So were many of their opponents, as Iturrigaray, the last Viceroy in Mexico, and Goyeneche in Peru.
Finance is certainly a positive science. The Basque Mendizabel was Minister of Finance of Spain ; and, while I write, the Secretary of the Treasury of the Argentine Republic, Dr. Iriondo, is another, as is Dr. Guinazu, the City Treasurer of Buenos Aires. More than a fifth of the members of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies have Basque names. Three of the twelve Argentine presidents since 1853 have been Basques. Let us look farther north again. Manuel
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de Alava was in command when Nootka Sound was evacuated on March 23rd, 1795 ; Arrillaga was gov- ernor of California, 1783-1814.
But where are your Montts, your Comonforts, your Amats y Junients, your Guiriors, and all the rest who came from Catalonia and the ancient and very noble kingdom of Aragon? Did they not do fully as much in the New World as the Basques? Perhaps they did ; but they spread over a very much greater area in Spain than did the Basques, they had a larger population and area to draw from ; and for a long while they had Naples and Sicily to develop and play with. We will take them up again some day, just as the Estremadura people and the Gallegos deserve special mention, to say nothing of those from the two Castiles and Leon; but the Basques must come first ; when people live on a stern and rock-bound coast, they generally make their influ- ence felt whenever they care to emigrate.
When you have a people who speak their own lan- guage, when everybody about them has had to go to the Latin to borrow theirs, and who are proud of this unique and highly specialized method of expression of their own ; who are better in defence than in attack, who are willing to take the risk of responsibility of being an emperor of the Mexicans or taking charge of a few hundred sheep on the lonely pampas, you have one of the finest types of the modern pioneer. I think St. Francis Xavier was a typical Basque. He
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stopped at absolutely nothing, he wore himself out to fulfil his life purpose ; yes, he died for it, on a little island off the Chinese coast in 1551, just as the four Basque priests died by the bedsides of the sick and lowly, when the yellow fever came to Buenos Aires in 1871.
Yes, the Basques specialize in cooperatively helpful charity. When the first Associated Charities was founded in the New World, the Benevolent Society of Buenos Aires, on January 2nd, 1823, the vice- president, one of the two secretaries, and five of the nine members of the executive committee were Basque ladies; and the president's mother was a Basque lady. It is high time to talk of the noble army of mothers, sisters and wives that have sallied forth from Euscaria, from the Viceroy's lady stepping down from her sedan chair in Lima or entering Bogota in state, to Juana, or Isabela, whose husband was but a private soldier in the armies of His Most Catholic Majesty. I asked my washerwoman the other day if she were a Spaniard. "No, Senor ; I am from the Kingdom of Navarre." And the Spanish part of the Kingdom of Navarre, whence good old Manuela came, had ceased to be a separate political entity exactly four hundred years ago.
You cannot have a language nowadays without a literature. We meet with the traces of a Basque language first of all very nearly one thousand years ago, in A.D. 980. In 1881 the Spanish Jesuit scholar,
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Fita, discovered a twelfth-century manuscript contain- ing eighteen Basque words ; and the first Basque book was printed in 1545. In 1571 the translation of the Prostestant Bible into Basque was ordered by Jeanne d'Albret; it was printed at La Rochelle. Not very long after we have the first American epic poem — the "Araucana of Alonso de Ercilla" — which was written by a Basque. Now open your Cotton Mather's "Magnalia" and read of the wonder-working provi- dences of the Almighty in New England, or of Michael Wigglesworth's sweetly cheering words on the eternal damnation of infants in his "Day of Doom," and tell me if there is anything in the "Arau- cania" like that. It is dully and drily written in spots, I will admit; but we have flashes of quaint beauty throughout The Basque Pedro de Ona's lit- tle sonnet of 1602, to the oldest American university, that of the most flourishing university of San Marcos, is like some of those old leather-backed chairs you can still buy in Cuzco or in the Bolivian highlands ; it has a fragrance of prettiness with a shimmer of natural affection: —
Sweet Fountain of Pure Water, so pure that thou chantest Victory before the Sun ; with which the plants of this Antarctic Vale are bathed with Dew, and Sprinkl'd over with Freshness; Thou, who raisest thyself to the Sublime Regions, where thy drops are holy Stars who by themselves change obscurity to Light, —
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Doubt not indeed, that from the waters clear, Of all thy Doctrines, and thine Healthy Rule, The Farthest Nations shall take Note and Hear ; Since thou a Mark, a Philip too doth know ; Which thine unconquerable strength to show Are pictured as two Lions on thy Scroll.
This has not as much swing, perhaps, as some of Echevarria's Argentine poems, where he tells of the now vanished gauchos, or cowboys, of the pampas
and plains, —
Bold Quiroga compelling, To stay his rebelling, Throughout the glad morning whilst forward they stray.
Now the language itself of these people of the mountainous northeastern corner of Spain is quite worth while. Take the root Egui, the truth or justice : Senor Leguia is president of Peru, while Dr. Eguiguren is chief justice thereof; Dr. Eguiara is a prominent Mexican physician ; and Minister Belaustegui intro- duced physical training into the Argentine schools. Many Basques have tree-names, just as the Japanese have: Yanagi, the Willow, is a Japanese surname; and we have Salazar and Sarasate, which mean the Willow in Basque. There is no general word for animal or tree in Basque ; because it is not a selfish language at all ; every animal or tree has its own name. Thus, Lizarr is the Ash-tree ; Lizarr-aga the Ash-wood ; Zumarr, the Elm (as in Zumarraga, etc.); Ur is the Water.
A great many Basque words begin in Ur. Let us analyze a word with Ur in the middle of it, — a four-
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story word with a garret and cellar, — like Asta- buruaga, for instance. Asia, or Astur, is the Moun- tain-water ; Buru is the Head ; and I really forget what Aga does mean. To come to land again, Erria or Erri is the Land ; Salaverry, the Willow-land ; Echever- ria, the House and Land, etc. Look at the Belasco Theatre. What does Belasco mean? Bella or Velia is the Raven. Belasco or Velasco is the Son of the Raven. Ochoa or Otsoa, as the old spelling is, is the Wolf. They borrow and annex words, too ; look at Mendiburu ; Mendi is the Latin Mons, with the beauti- ful Basque Buru attached. And so we could go on all night if necessary ; but who really cares to learn to read Basque, if the Spanish is printed in the opposite column? They all tell us that nobody can learn this language ; His Satanic Majesty tried to, and really couldn't; but that is what the jealous people from the rest of Spain say.
" Urquidi and Urquiza stay ; while noble in his pain Urduna soothes the bloody wound that pains Urdinarrain ; The good Ellauri is gone ; and jocund, gone the strain That hung above our weary heads, like as the summer rain Gathers and threatens ere descends, sprinkling with fertile
spray
The meadow and the valley green, that clothe our Uruguay, They turn triumphant to the toil, that beckons them before, And holds them with their holy hope, that hears our Hus
piaur."
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EPITOME OF DATES
1807-1826
1807, Oct. 4 — De Forest writes to Secretary Madison from Bue- nos Aires regarding United States interest there.
1809, Jan. 22— Spanish Royal Decree enacts that Spanish-Amer-
ican Colonies are an integral part of the Mon- archy and can be represented in the Cortes.
Mar. 7 — Thomas Sumter appointed United States Minister to the Portuguese Court' at Rio de Janeiro.
May 25 — Royalist Governor deposed at Chuquisaca (Char- cas), Bolivia.
1810, April 10 — Venezuelan insurrection against Spain. May 25 — Buenos Aires "Cabildo Abierto."
June ii — J. V. Bolivar and Telesforo de Orea leave Vene- zuela for the United States.
June 28 — The United States Secretary of State instructs an agent, Joel Roberts Poinsett, to visit South America, and appoints him agent for commerce and seamen at Buenos Aires.
July 7 — Expedition of 1,150 patriots leaves Buenos Aires for the interior.
Aug. 26 — Shooting of Liniers.
Sept. 18 — The Junta de Gobierno proclaimed at Santiago de Chile.
Sept. 24 — The Cabildo of Montevideo decrees the founding of a newspaper.
Oct. 27— Defeat of Balcarce at Catagaita.
Nov. 6 — Robert K. Lowry sent as United States Agent to Cardcas.
Nov. 7 — Argentine victory at Suipacha, under Balcarce.
Nov. — Arrival of Telesforo de Orea as Venezuelan Agent in the United States.
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1810, Nov. 28 — Translation of Jefferson published in Gaseta de
Buenos Aires.
1811, April 30 — Secretary Monroe appoints Louis Goddefroy
United States Consul for Buenos Aires and the ports below it on the River Plate.
May 14 — Outbreak at Asuncion, Paraguay.
May 18 — Victory of Artigas, with some Buenos Airean forces, over the Royalists at Las Piedras.
June 20 — Battles of Juraicoragua and Huaqui.
June 29 — The Infanta Carlota, in a communication to the Cortes, complains that the United States En- voy (Poinsett) has not ceased to influence the Revolution of Buenos Aires.
July 4 — First Chilean National Congress meets at Santi- ago de Chile.
July 5 — Venezuelan Declaration of Independence.
July 25 — Arrival of Jose" Miguel Carrera in Chile.
Aug. 13 — Rozas leaves Santiago for Concepcion, Chile.
Aug. 14 — " Rules for the Temporatory Organization of the Executive in Chile " published.
Sept. 4 — Rozas restored to power in Chile ; Supreme Court of Justice formed.
Sept. 23 — Triumvirate established as Executive Authority of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata.
Oct. 7 — It was enacted in Chile that all discussions of Congress and all acts of the Government be published.
Oct. 25 — Saavedra and Aguirre arrive in Washington, D. C.
Nov. 5 — President Madison's message to the United States Congress, containing his first allusions to South American independence.
Nov. 15 — William Gilchrist Miller recognized as United States Vice-Consul in Buenos Aires.
Nov. 21 — Arrival of " Galloway " from New York at Val- paraiso with printing-press for Chileans.
Dec. i — Interview of Saavedra and Aguirre, from Buenos Aires, with Stephen Girard in Philadelphia.
[180]
EPITOME OF DATES
1812, Jan. 9 — Interview of Saavedra and Aguirre with Secretary
James Monroe.
Mar. 13 — Arrival of San Martin and Alvear and Zapiola in Buenos Aires, from Cadiz.
May 14 — Secretary Monroe issues instructions to Alexan- der Scott, Agent to Venezuela.
May 19 — Arrival of Saavedra and Aguirre at Buenos Aires from Philadelphia on the ship " Liberty."
July 4 — Celebration at Santiago de Chile.
July 26 — Treaty of Vittoria-Miranda and Monteverde (Venezuela).
Sept. 4 — Rivadavia's decree encouraging emigration to Argentina.
Sept. 26 — Victory of Tucuman.
Oct. 8 — Military mutiny in Buenos Aires.
1813, Jan. 31 — Argentine Constitutional Assembly meets. Feb. 10 — Juan Manuel de Luca officially informs United
States Vice-Consul Miller at Buenos Aires that the Aagentine Government desires to ini- tiate " commercial relations of mutual interest" with the United States of America.
Mar. 26 — Royalist Army from Peru under Antonio Pareja lands' at Talcahuano.
April i — Carrera reaches Rancagua, accompanied by Mr. Poinsett.
April 4 — Congress of Uruguay meets under Presidency of Artigas.
April 5 — Carrera arrives at Talca.
April 15— Pareja reaches Chilian with 5,500 men. All Chile south of Maule under his control.
April 20 — Chilean victory at Yerbas Buenas.
May 15 — Battle of San Carlos.
July 10 — Carrera begins the seige of Chilian.
July 21 — The Argentine Triumvirate informs President Madison of the desirability of a "fraternal al- liance which would truly unite the Americas of the North and South forever."
Aug. 4 — Bolivar enters Caracas in triumph.
[181]
EPITOME OF DATES
1813, Oct. i — Paraguayan Declaration of Independence ratified. Oct. — Defeat of Carrera.
Oct. 17— Battle of Roble.
Nov. 27 — Junta replaces Carrera by Belgrano at Vileapujo.
1814, Jan. 28 — Proclamation of O'Higgins. April 5 — Ganeza falls back on Talca.
June 23 — Montevideo surrenders to Patriot General Carlos de Alvear. End of Spanish dominion in River Plate.
Aug. 10 — San Martin appointed Governor of Cuyo ; he re- sided in Mendoza.
Dec. — Bolivar appears before Bogota.
1815, Jan. 9 — Resignation of Director Posadas at Buenos Aires ;
Alvear succeeds him.
Jan. 16 — Portuguese sovereignty takes title of King of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves.
Aug. 29 — John C. Zimmermann arrives at Buenos Aires with $19,000 worth of military supplies for the Ar- gentine Government on the schooner " Kemp '' from Baltimore.
Dec. 6 — Spanish General Morillo occupies Cartegena.
1816, Jan. 29 — Henry Clay asserts in United States House of
Representatives that the United States may have to openly " take part with the patriots of South America."
Jan. 30 — Pope Pius VII issues encyclical against South Americaa independence.
Mar. — Maria I dies; Joao VI succeeds.
Mar. 25 — Corps of deputies meet at Tucuman.
July 9 — Argentine Declaration of Independence at Tucu- man ; Francia's dictatorship made perpetual in Paraguay.
1817, Jan. 17 — San Martin begins the passage of the Andes with
3,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, 1,600 horses, 900 mules. Jan. 19 — Portuguese take possession of Montevideo.
[182]
EPITOME OF DATES
1817, Feb. 9— United States ship " Clifton " arrives at Buenos
Aires for the Argentine Government.
Feb. 12 — Battle of Chacabuco.
Feb. 14 — San Martin enters Santiago de Chile.
Feb. 16 — Victory of Bolivar and Paez over Morillo.
July 18 — John B. Prevost sent to Chile-Peru as Commis- sioner of the United States of America.
Nov. 21 — United States Consul Halsey is dispatched on his visit to Artigas.
Dec. 2 — President Monroe's message to Congress recog- nizes some of the revolting Spanish-American countries as belligerents.
Dec. 3 — Clay's motion to inquire what was necessary to secure to the South Americans their rights as belligerents.
Dec. 4 — United States Commissioners Rodney, Graham, Bland, and Breckenridge (secretary) sail from Hampton Roads in U. S. frigate "Congress" for Buenos Aires.
1818, Jan. i — O'Higgins publishes proclamation of Chilean in-
dependence.
Feb. 18 — Independence of Chile proclaimed.
Feb. 28 — United States Commissioners arrive in Buenos Aires.
Mar. 25 — Henry Clay's speech in the House of Represen- tatives to acknowledge South American inde- pendence.
Mar. 26 — Ball given in Buenos Aires for the United States Commissioners, Rodney, Bland and Graham, by Lynch, Zimmermann & Co. The band played the " Washington March."
April 5— Battle of Maipu, Chile.
April 24 — Rodney and Graham leave Buenos Aires for the United States of America.
Oct. 28 — Wooster's assault on Talcahuano.
Nov. 1 3 — San Martin's proclamation to the inhabitants of Peru, urging the union of Argentina, Chile and Peru, and a Central Congress composed of their representatives.
[183]
EPITOME OF DATES
1818, Nov. 28 — Lord Cochrane reaches Valparaiso.
Dec. — Rodney's and Prevost's reports sent to the United States Congress.
1819, Jan. 16 — Cochrane sails from Valparaiso to Callao, Peru. Feb. 5 — Tagle-Irissari treaty between Argentina and Chile. Feb. 15 — Congress of Angostura.
Aug. 7 — Battle of Boyaca.
Dec. 7 — Fundamental law declaring Venezuela and Colom- bia to be one state.
1820, Feb. — Lord Cochrane takes Valdivia.
May 20 — Henry Clay introduces motion to inaugurate diplomatic intercourse with independent South American nations.
Aug. 21 — San Martin and Cochrane sail from Valparaiso.
Sept. — San Martin lands near Huacho, Peru.
Nov. 5 — " Esmeralda " captured from Spaniards at Callao .
Nov. 25 — Armistice at Trujillo, Peru.
1821, Feb. 6 — Henry Clay secures passage of resolution that the
United States feels deep interest for Spanish- American Provinces struggling for liberty.
Mar. 20 — Cochrane captures Pisco, Peru.
June 23 — Battle of Carabobo ; Bolivar's victory.
June 29 — Bolivar enters Caracas.
July 6 — Patriot army enters Lima, Peru.
July 9 — United States Charg£ d'Affaires Brent, at Madrid, is interviewed there by Ravenga, Bolivia's commissioner.
July 28 — Peruvian Declaration of Independence.
Aug. 9 — University of Buenos Aires founded.
Aug. 30 — Constitution of Colombia adopted.
1822, Mar. 8 — President James Monroe recommended acknowl-
edgement of the independence of the South American Republics by the United States of America.
April 22 — Rules for elections issued from Peru by San Martin.
[184]
EPITOME OF DATES
22, May 4 — South American independence recognized by the United States of America.
May 14 — Battle of Pichincha, Ecuador; Victory of the Patriot army.
May 19 — Iturbide crowned Emperor (Agustin I)of Mexico.
June 19 — Manuel Torres received by President Monroe as Charge" d'Affaires from Colombia.
July ii — San Martin arrives at Guayaquil.
July 27-28 — Interview of Bolivar and San Martin at Guay- aquil.
Sept. 7 — Independence of Brazil proclaimed.
Nov. 29 — Cochrane resigns his commission in Chilean navy.
1823, Jan. 18 — Cochrane finally sails away from Valparaiso, pro- ceeding to Brazil.
Jan. 27 — The United States of America appoints Ministers to Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, thereby recognizing those countries' independence.
Feb. 26 — Jose* de la Riva Aguero appointed President of Peru.
June 8 — Caesar A. Rodney sails for Buenos Aires from Philadelphia as United States Minister.
July 1 6 — Brazilian naval victory over the Portuguese, in latitude 5 degrees north.
Aug. i — Brazilian authority permanently established at Maranhao, and soon afterwards, at Para. End of Portuguese dominion in Brazil.
Aug. — Rivadavia founds the first agricultural school in America on the Recolate estate in Buenos Aires.
Aug. 10 — Peruvian Congress bestows on Simon Bolivar the title of " Dictator and Liberator of Peru."
Oct. 24 — Ex-President Jefferson writes President Monroe that "America, North and South, has a set of interests distinct from those of Europe, and peculiarly her own."
Nov. 16 — Arrival of Csesar A. Rodney at Buenos Aires as United States Minister.
[185]
EPITOME OF DATES
Nov. 18 — Rodney is so recognized by Argentine Govern- ment.
Dec. 2 — President Monroe's message to the United States Congress (Monroe Doctrine) containing the following statement referring to Latin America : " With the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consid- eration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any Euro- pean power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition to- wards the United States."
Dec. 3 — Carlos de Alvear appointed Argentine Minister to the United States.
Dec. 7 — Bolivar issues invitations from Lima to Pan- American Congress at Panama.
1824, Jan. 20 — The King of Spain abolishes the Political Consti- tution of the Indies by an edict, thus placing affairs exactly as they were in 1820.
Feb. 3 — Consuls appointed by Great Britain to the free 1 Provinces of America — a year after their diplomatic recognition by the United States of America.
Feb. 9 — Monroe's message to Congress of December 2, 1825, printed in the Gaceta Afercanttlot Buenos Aires.
Mar. 25 — Emperor of Brazil (Pedro I) swears to Constitu- tion.
May 6 — The King of Spain issues a declaration that he would never consent to the independence of his former American colonies, but that he would appeal to a Congress of European soverigns in regard thereto.
May 26 — The United States of America recognizes the in- dependence of Brazil.
[186]
EPITOME OF DATES
1824, June 10 — Rivadavia's funeral oration over Czesar Rodney,
the first United States Minister to Argentina.
Aug. 4 — The United States of America recognizes the independence of the Central American Fede- ration.
Dec. 9 — Battle of Ayacucho ; Victory of Bolivar over the Spaniards.
Dec. 16 — Constitutional Convention meets at Buenos Aires.
1825, Jan. i — National Convention meets at Buenos Aires. Jan. 23 — National Constitution of Federation of States of
the Rio de la Plata agreed upon.
Mar. 6 — Francisco de Paula Santander, President of Co- lombia, states that the United States should be invited to the Panama Congress " to participate in deliberations of common interest to such sincere and enlightened friends."
June — Bolivar visits upper Peru.
Aug. 25 — JoSo VI abdicates crown of Brazil in favor of Don Pedro I.
Aug. — First Bolivian Congress.
1826, Jan. ii — Chilean assault on battery of San Carlos on
Island of Chiloe ; Freeman Oxley, a United States citizen in the Chilean navy, is killed.
Jan. 28 — Surrender of the last Spanish fortress in South America — Callao — to the Peruvians.
Apr. ii — Daniel Webster's speech defending Monroe Doctrine.
May 2 — The United States of America recognizes inde- pendence of Peru.
June 22-July 15 — Pan-American Congress at Panama.
Sept. — Bolivar leaves Lima.
Dec. 24 — " Unitario " constitution of Rivadavia adopted by Argentina.
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