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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's _Dominacion Espanola_, in Spanish; Berra's _Bosquejo
Historico_, in Spanish; Saint-Foix's _L'Uruguay_, in French.

BRAZIL: Southey's _History of the Brazil_, in English; Varnhagem's
_Historia do Brasil_, in Portuguese; Pereira da Silva's _Fundacao do
Imperio, Segundo Periodo, Historia do Brasil, e Historia do Meu Tempo_,
in Portuguese; Nabuco's _Estadista do Imperio_, in Portuguese; Rio
Branco's sketch in _Le Bresil en 1889_, in French; Oliveira Lima's
_Pernambuco_, in Portuguese.

All of the above books may be found in the Columbian Memorial Library of
the Bureau of American Republics at Washington, which, taken as a whole,
is one of the best collections on South America in existence.

                                                              T. C. D.

WASHINGTON, January 22, 1903.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                         PAGE

  INTRODUCTORY: THE DISCOVERIES AND THE CONQUEST                     3

  _ARGENTINA_
      I. THE ARGENTINE LAND                                         37
     II. THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM                                47
    III. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY                                    58
     IV. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY                                     70
      V. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE REVOLUTION                           80
     VI. COMPLETION OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE                      97
    VII. THE ERA OF CIVIL WARS                                     115
   VIII. CONSOLIDATION                                             130
     IX. THE MODERN ARGENTINE                                      141

  _PARAGUAY_
      I. PARAGUAY UNTIL 1632                                       165
     II. THE JESUIT REPUBLIC AND COLONIAL PARAGUAY                 177
    III. FRANCIA'S REIGN                                           188
     IV. THE REIGN OF THE ELDER LOPEZ                              198
      V. THE WAR                                                   206
     VI. PARAGUAY SINCE 1870                                       220

  _URUGUAY_
      I. INTRODUCTION                                              227
     II. PORTUGUESE AGGRESSIONS AND THE SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTRY  239
    III. THE REVOLUTION                                            247
     IV. INDEPENDENCE AND CIVIL WAR                                259
      V. CIVIL WAR AND ARGENTINE INTERVENTION                      265
     VI. COLORADOS AND BLANCOS                                     272

  _BRAZIL_
      I. PORTUGAL                                                  287
     II. DISCOVERY                                                 295
    III. DESCRIPTION                                               305
     IV. EARLY COLONISATION                                        316
      V. THE JESUITS                                               326
     VI. FRENCH OCCUPATION OF RIO                                  333
    VII. EXPANSION                                                 342
   VIII. THE DUTCH CONQUEST                                        350
     IX. EXPULSION OF THE DUTCH                                    361
      X. THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY                                   371
     XI. GOLD DISCOVERIES--REVOLTS--FRENCH ATTACKS                 378
    XII. THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY                                    386
   XIII. THE PORTUGUESE COURT IN RIO                               401
    XIV. INDEPENDENCE                                              411
     XV. REIGN OF PEDRO I.                                         421
    XVI. THE REGENCY                                               436
   XVII. PEDRO II.                                                 449
  XVIII. EVENTS OF 1849 TO 1864                                   