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  Story of the Nations

      A Series of Historical Studies intended to present
      in graphic narratives the stories of the different
      nations that have attained prominence in history.

  In the story form the current of each national life is distinctly
  indicated, and its picturesque and noteworthy periods and episodes
  are presented for the reader in their philosophical relations to
  each other as well as to universal history.

  12º, Illustrated, cloth, each net $1.50

  FOR FULL LIST SEE END OF THIS VOLUME.




  [Illustration: CAPE HORN.
  _Frontispiece_ [From a steel engraving.]]




  THE STORY OF THE NATIONS


  THE SOUTH AMERICAN
  REPUBLICS


  BY

  THOMAS C. DAWSON
  Secretary of the United States Legation to Brazil


  IN TWO PARTS

  _PART I_

  ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, BRAZIL


  G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
  NEW YORK AND LONDON
  The Knickerbocker Press




  COPYRIGHT 1903
  BY
  THOMAS C. DAWSON

  Eighth Printing


  The Knickerbocker Press, New York




  TO MY WIFE

  I DEDICATE THIS STUDY OF THE HISTORY
  OF HER NATIVE CONTINENT




PREFACE


The question most frequently asked me since I began my stay in South
America has been: "Why do they have so many revolutions there?" Possibly
the events recounted in the following pages may help the reader to
answer this for himself. I hope that he will share my conviction that
militarism has already definitely disappeared from more than half the
continent and is slowly becoming less powerful in the remainder.
Constitutional traditions, inherited from Spain and Portugal, implanted
a tendency toward disintegration; Spanish and Portuguese tyranny bred
in the people a distrust of all rulers and governments; the war of
independence brought to the front military adventurers; civil disorders
were inevitable, and the search for forms of government that should be
final and stable has been very painful. On the other hand, the generous
impulse that prompted the movement toward independence has grown into an
earnest desire for ordered liberty, which is steadily spreading among
all classes. Civic capacity is increasing among the body of South
Americans and immigration is raising the industrial level. They are
slowly evolving among themselves the best form of government for their
special needs and conditions, and a citizen of the United States must
rejoice to see that that form is and will surely remain republican.

It is hard to secure from the tangle of events called South American
history a clearly defined picture. At the risk of repetition I have
tried to tell separately the story of each country, because each has its
special history and its peculiar characteristics. All of these states
have, however, had much in common and it is only in the case of the
larger nations that social and political conditions have been described
in detail. A study of either Argentina, Brazil, Chile, or Venezuela
is likely to throw most light on the political development of the
continent, while Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia are more interesting to the
seeker for local colour and the lover of the dramatic.

The South American histories so far written treat of special periods,
and few authorities exist for post-revolution times. Personal
observations through a residence of six years in South America;
conversations with public men, scholars, merchants, and proprietors;
newspapers and reviews, political pamphlets, books of travel, and
official publications, have furnished me with most of my material for
the period since 1825. The following books have been of use in the
preparation of the first volume, and are recommended to those who care
to follow up the subject:

ARGENTINA: Mitre's _Historia de Belgrano and Historia de San Martin_,
in Spanish; Torrente's _Revolucion Hispano-Americano_, in Spanish;
Lozano's _Conquista del Paraguay, La Plata y Tucuman_, in Spanish;
Funes's _Historia de Buenos Aires y Tucuman_, in Spanish; Lopez's
_Manuel de Historia Argentina_, in Spanish; Page's _La Plata_, in
English; Graham's _A Vanished Arcadia_, in English.

PARAGUAY: All of the above and Thompson's _Paraguayan War_, in English;
Washburn's _History of Paraguay_, in English; Fix's _Guerra de
Paraguay_, in Portuguese.

URUGUAY: Bauza