Part 2

It should be noted that up to here, no mention has been made of a Declaration of Independence. Indeed none was made for over six years or until July 9, 1816 at Tucumán. The May movement was a revolt against Regency tyranny, an assertion that the colony should be locally even though temporarily autonomous. The Argentine intellectuals argued that Spain had ceased to exist as an authority over America, and that during the King's captivity the Colony and not the Regency would assume the Royal prerogatives; but there was no disposition to deny the King's eventual overlordship. The Provisional Council under the Presidency of Saavedra installed itself in the Fortress on May 25th. 1810, and swore to preserve the country under the sceptre of Ferdinand VII and to observe the laws of the kingdom. Although governing as an autonomous body, it always invoked the name and authority of the King, a rather anomalous position. The expeditions to Upper Perú under Balcarce and to Paraguay under Belgrano used the flag of Spain, and the same emblem daily flew over the Fortress and city of Buenos Aires for three years. It was not until 1813 that the oath of allegiance to the King was abolished, and all Spanish civil, military and ecclesiastical employees were removed from office.

Belgrano had chafed under the use of the Spanish flag. Acting on his own initiative, he had lined up his troops on February 27, 1812, on the heights of Rosario overlooking the river, and made them swear allegiance to a new flag of his own designing, a celeste and white tri-bar. For this he was reprimanded by the Government. A few months later, on the second anniversary of May 25th., as Commander of the Army to Upper Perú, he had troops again swear allegiance to the same flag in his camp near Jujuy; and for a third time, on February 13, 1813, on the banks of the river still called "Río del Juramento", in front of the Spanish Army, one week before he won the battle of Salta, he had his troops repeat their oath to the new flag. One of the final acts of the Tucumán Congress on July 25th. 1816, was to officially adopt as the National emblem of the Argentine, the Belgrano flag, the same one with which we are all familiar.

The year 1813 was fruitful in reforms. The Assembly ordered a general census so as to control elections and to learn the civil, economic and military potentialities of the country; ordered the cessation of obligatory work in the mines and on the ranches by Indians and peons; decreed free commerce in and exportation of grains and cereals; provided for the absolute liberty of foreigners to enter and leave the country, to traffic and to acquire property; restricted in various ways the prerogatives of the Church and of the religious orders; established the liberty of the womb as concerned slaves; and reformed abusive regulations covering tribunals, codes and prisons. A new coat of arms was adopted, on which the Phrygian Cap upheld by clasped hands, symbolizing Grecian Freedom, and the rising sun shedding its morning beams over the great River Plate, replaced the lions and crosses of the Arms of Spain. Lastly and sentimentally the most important, the Assembly adopted the present National Hymn, which was written by the elder Vicente López--"Oid mortales el grito sagrado--Libertad, libertad, libertad". The body which effected these sweeping reforms was presided over by Rodríguez Peña whose illustrious name is still venerated by all Argentines.

In the same way that San Martín dominated the final chapters of the history of Argentine Independence, Belgrano dominated the opening ones. Belgrano was born in Buenos Aires on June 3rd. 1770, being one of the younger of seven brothers. His father was an Italian, a man of means and standing, while his mother was an Argentine lady from Tucumán. He was educated in the San Carlos College in Buenos Aires, afterwards going to Salamanca, Spain, and eventually graduating in 1793 from the University of Valladolid. He became acquainted with French philosophers and teachings, and was a close student of the French Revolution. He returned to Buenos Aires in 1794 to become Permanent Secretary of the Consulate, in which important position he continued until the English invasion of 1806. He emerged with credit from the troublous times which followed and became one of the leading figures in the May revolution. He was free from ambition, gentle and modest, and though lacking the iron qualities needed in times of revolution, had strong principles and an undeviating sense of duty. He was exceeding patient and was most pains-taking in his attention to administrative details. His training had not prepared him to lead armies to combat but when appointed considered it his duty to accept. He went to Paraguay, as we have seen, and lost battles but won a moral victory. He started for Montevideo in 1811 at the head of another expedition, but was recalled by civil strife in Buenos Aires. He was made in 1812 Commander of the Army to Upper Perú, relieving Pueyrredón who subsequently played such a distinguished part in Argentine history. Belgrano's specific orders were to avoid a battle and to retire to Córdoba, instead of which, on his own responsibility, he awaited the Spanish Army at Tucumán and completely defeated it on September 25th. and 26th. 1812. José María Paz, one of the great Argentine military geniuses, who was present as a lieutenant of artillery remarks that while the fighting was on, Belgrano seemed confused and irresolute; quite different from what Mitre says about San Martín whose faculties were never so active nor his mind so clear as when in the midst of battle. Belgrano followed the retreating Spaniards northward and inflicted another and a crushing defeat at Salta on February 20, 1813. As a victor, he was much too magnanimous, for he released the captured army, and allowed it to return to Perú on its individual oath never to again take up arms against the Argentine. The Peruvian Bishops released the Spaniards from their oaths because they had been given to rebels against the King and excommunicants of the Pope. Thereupon the Spanish Army was reorganized and disastrously defeated Belgrano at Vilcapugio on October 1, 1813 and again at Ayohuma on November 12th. 1813. Belgrano was ordered to deliver the remains of his army to San Martín, which he did on January 30th. 1814. This was the first and only time these two great men ever met.

Napoleón abdicated and Ferdinand VII reassumed the throne of Spain in 1814. He at once announced his intention to scourge America with fire and sword as punishment for disloyalty--the days of Pizarro and Cortez were to be outdone. Belgrano and Rivadavia were sent as special commissioners to London to arrange for English protection but were unsuccessful. Rivadavia went over to the Continent where he did loyal but fruitless work, while Belgrano returned to the Argentine, reaching Buenos Aires early in 1816, in time to attend the Congress at Tucumán and there render inestimable service.

When the Tucumán Congress met in March of 1816, the cause of Spanish American independence was practically lost. In 1810 all the colonies had revolted, and between 1814 and 1816, all had been reconquered with the single exception of Buenos Aires. Ferdinand VII had made effective his threat to punish America with fire and sword. In one year (1815) he sent to Perú over 10,000 fully equipped veteran soldiers under the command of an accredited General, Laserna by name; and in November of that year, the Argentine Army of Upper Perú, commanded by Rondeau, was thoroughly defeated at Venta-y-media, and soon after in a rear-guard action, was routed and dispersed at Sipe Sipe. No defense was possible against an invasion from the North. This was when Upper Perú was permanently lost to the Argentine. Another famous Spanish General named Morillo was preparing to sail from Cádiz for the River Plate with a large force of rested and veteran troops; and to crown the desperate situation civil strife had broken out. A horde of bandits from Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Uruguay was threatening the doors of Buenos Aires like a pack of hungry wolves. Nothing could have been more disheartening than the conditions which confronted the Tucumán Congress when it commenced to deliberate on the fate of the nation.

The glory of saving the situation is principally ascribable to San Martín. This unfathomable man, the enigma of Argentine history, was born on February 25, 1778 in the Province of Corrientes in a town since obliterated. At the age of eight years, after a short primary education in Buenos Aires, he was sent to Madrid to school, where he remained until he was a few months over eleven. He then entered the Spanish army as a cadet, served in Africa against the Moors, in France against the Republic, in the Spanish fleet when defeated by Nelson at St. Vincent, fought against Portugal and again under Wellington during the Penninsula Campaign. In his twenty years service under the Spanish flag, he had had experience on land and by sea, in infantry, cavalry and trenches. In 1811 in Cádiz, he joined the "Lautaro Society", about which reference has already been made, went to London and affiliated with the Mother Lodge, taking in company with Alvear, the fifth and highest degree. About this time, Bolívar of Venezuela, O'Higgins of Chile, and all the other famous liberators became active members in the same Lodge. San Martín and Alvear reached Buenos Aires on the good ship "George Canning" on March 9th. 1812, San Martín being 34 years old while Alvear was only 23. San Martín was without friends or family or fortune, having as his only asset, his successful military career, while Alvear, the son of a wealthy and influential family, stepped immediately into prominence and became a dominant figure in political circles.

San Martín was made a Lt. Colonel in the Argentine Army, that being the grade to which he had risen in the Spanish Army; and he started a school of tactics, discipline and military morality on a plane of efficiency and elevation theretofore unknown in Spanish America. He was a profound believer in the axiom that battles are won in the training camps. His special pride was a regiment of Mounted Grenadiers, for whom he designed the uniform, the same worn today by the stalwart young men who do guard duty in Government House.

The Spaniards held Montevideo and controlled the nearby waters. Raiding parties up the rivers were frequent, one of which destroyed at San Nicolás three small Argentine sloops-of-war; although the operations were usually limited to robbing ranches and villages of cattle and food with which to supply Montevideo. San Martín followed by land one party which eventually disembarked at San Lorenzo, a few miles north of Rosario, where he attacked and defeated it. The battle of San Lorenzo was small in size, the Spanish landing party numbered 250 and San Martín had only 125, but the result was important, for river raiding ceased. It occurred on February 3, 1813, less than a year after San Martín's arrival in Buenos Aires, and won for him considerable fame; so much so that he was selected to take over from Belgrano the command of the Army of Upper Perú after the defeats of Vilcapugio and Ayohuma.

In 1814, the famous Admiral Brown blockaded Montevideo by sea and Alvear attacked by land with 4000 troops which had crossed to Colonia. The Spaniards sailed out on May 16th. to meet the Argentines, but by strategy Brown got between them and land and completely destroyed their fleet. Alvear laid siege to Montevideo and took it by assault on June 22nd. This was an important victory, for it gave control of the sea and rivers to the Argentine, and lessened the danger of attacks on Buenos Aires by expeditions from Spain.

San Martín became convinced that the conquest of Lower Perú through Upper Perú was impossible--that only a defensive warfare could be successfully waged in the north, and that the real road to Lima was via Chile. He kept his opinion secret, but pleading ill-health asked for the post of Governor of the Province of Cuyo with headquarters in Mendoza. He was given this appointment in August, 1814, and upon arrival began to organize from the limited means at his command what he subsequently called the "Army of the Andes". He worked on this for two years, hiding his plan from everybody as far as he could. At the end of that period, when the Tucumán Congress inaugurated its labors, San Martín was one of the dominant figures in the Argentine. It is hard to understand how he acquired this prestige, for his only military exploit in the Argentine was the battle of San Lorenzo, and we have seen how small were the proportions of that event. His command of the Army of Upper Perú had not been marked by anything of importance, and he had voluntarily sought out a distant and little visited point, away from the main lines of travel and segregated from what were considered the seats of war. Yet in 1816, he was one of the greatest moral influences in the country. He did not attend the Tucumán Congress, although the Presidency of it would have been his for the asking. His mouthpiece was Godoy Cruz, and his written advice and instruction to that faithful representative afford much of the existing illuminating information covering the period.

We have seen how disheartening the general situation was at the time Congress convened. San Martín wrote to Godoy Cruz:--"What steps should be taken to save us? I know what they should be and Congress must apply them in the interest of public welfare, but if such steps are not taken during this year (1816) I fail to see any remedy. Everything will have ended". He allowed his secret to be known to a few friends. Perú must be attacked through Chile. "Until we have taken Lima", he said, "the war will not end". He, through Godoy Cruz and Belgrano in person, constantly urged a declaration of independence. Members argued that before making such declaration, the form of Government to be adopted should be agreed upon, and marked differences of opinion were expressed regarding National authority and Provincial rights. "I die every time I hear Federation mentioned" said San Martín to Godoy Cruz. "If in a government already constituted and in a country educated, inhabited, artistic, agricultural and commercial (I speak of North America) difficulties in the conduct of the last war with the English (War of 1812) arose from the Federation, what would happen to us who lack these advantages? If with all the Provinces and their united resources we are weak, what would happen if each one was separated from the rest?" San Martín and Belgrano continued to insist that the declaration ought to be made. Congress had been in session for over three months, and no decision had been reached. "Is it not ridiculous", said San Martín to Godoy Cruz, "that we coin money, have our national flag and shield, and even make war on the sovereign to whom it is said we belong, and do not declare our independence. The enemy treats us as insurgents, and with much reason". On July 6th. Belgrano made a long and important speech, and three days later--July 9th. 1816, the declaration was made, "Truly", exclaims Mitre, "San Martín and Belgrano were the real founders of Argentine Independence".

Again San Martín wrote to Godoy Cruz, "Congress had made a master-stroke by the declaration of independence. Only I would have desired that it had made an exposition of the just motives we Americans have in emancipating ourselves".

There was a general agreement among the Argentine statesmen of the period that a constitutional monarchy was the form of Government best suited to the needs of the country. Great Britain was the model to be copied, self-governing Britain which had emerged stronger than ever from the tempest of revolution in Europe that followed the upheaval in France. Loyalty to an Argentine Crown would unify the divergent elements and end the civil strife which had commenced within a year after the May revolution and whose end no one could foresee. In 1814, Rivadavia, as Argentine Commissioner to Europe, saw Ferdinand VII and as a solution of the trouble between Spain and the Argentine intimated that a son of this monarch might be called to Buenos Aires and made King. Soon after Belgrano's return from England in 1816, he wrote Rivadavia who was still in Europe. "The public is generally favorable to a constitutional monarchy, although opinions are divided between Incas and Bourbons". Belgrano had worked out a plan under which a descendant of the Peruvian Inca was to be crowned King of the River Plate to rule under the guidance of a Council of Regency and the seat of government was to be the ancient city of Cuzco. This was to be a real American Kingdom. Rivadavia favored the selection of a European Prince with Buenos Aires as seat of Government, in order to stimulate contact with the outside world. Both plans had partizans and both were discussed at the Tucumán Congress, but when put to a vote, the Belgrano project was formally approved. Today the plan seems so fantastic that it appears incredible it ever received serious consideration. The great majority of the delegates wanted a monarchy; "Where there is no subordination, there is no government", wrote Rivadavia, and the details were secondary. San Martín approved of the Inca project, as he would have approved of anything that promised internal quiet, but on condition that the Regency be limited in number:

"If the Regency is composed of more than one person", he wrote, "everything is paralysed and the Devil takes us. In effect, we only have to change the title of our Director, and we have a Regent". Pueyrredón had been elected Supreme Director on May 3rd. 1816, and had undefined but practically dictatorial powers. Three years later (in 1819) another Congress sitting in Buenos Aires approved in secret session a project to bring a King from England and looked to France for support. The leaders had a profound lack of confidence in the popular capacity for self-government, yet in spite of this, the public feeling was inarticulately and incoherently inclined to a Republic, and due to this unspoken pressure, in the end nothing came of the monarchical plans.

Spain and Portugal in Europe, Brazil and the Argentine in South America, were always inharmonious neighbors, even when allied, which was only occasionally for they were more frequently at war. Carlota, a sister of Ferdinand VII, married the Portuguese Prince Regent who lived at Rio, and planned to rule both Brazil and the River Plate. Brazil became an independent kingdom on May 13, 1816, and in the same year Montevideo separated itself from Buenos Aires, with which it had been connected since Alvear and Brown took it from the Spanish in 1814. Brazil captured Montevideo in 1817 and held it for ten years, thus bringing a new danger to the doors of Buenos Aires.

After the Tucumán Congress, San Martín came up from Mendoza and met Pueyrredón on July 15, 1816, at Córdoba. As in all the San Martín conferences this one was surrounded by mystery, but it is known that among other things Pueyrredón approved of San Martín's plans to attack the Spaniards in Chile, and promised his aid.

San Martín returned to Mendoza, and completed his preparations. He brought back word that the Supreme Director intended to liberate all slaves, and suggested that owners anticipate the act of emancipation and turn their slaves into the army. By this means he added 710 colored troops to his infantry, that being the branch of service he desired to strengthen. He found a practical chemist and made powder locally. He discovered a young priest, Fray Beltrán, with a turn for mechanics, and made him chief of ordnance. Beltrán not only made rifles and cast cannon, but invented successful devices for transporting heavy and cumbrous articles over the rugged Andes. Shoe-makers and harness-makers and clothes-makers, and the makers of all the rest of the multitudinous articles required by an army, were found or improvised. San Martín needed mounts for the cavalry, and he induced local ranchmen to sell him horses at six "pesos" each, payable in script acceptable at the local Custom House. He obtained 900 head.

By the middle of January, 1817, he was ready to start. To divert attention and confuse the Spaniards, four expeditions simultaneously crossed the mountains. One left San Juan and took the road for Coquimbo; another left La Rioja with Copiapó as destination; a third went through the southern pass which lead to Talca; while the main force, in two divisions, took the nearer routes. Las Heras, with the artillery, went over the Uspallata trail, through the divide where the Christ now stands; while San Martín with the bulk of the army, travelled the Los Patos road, some forty miles to the north. The two columns were to meet at Chacabuco on the Chilean side. The entire undertaking was perfectly planned and admirably executed.

The three minor expeditions were small in number, from 100 to 200 men each, and all victoriously attained their objectives. The main body was composed of 4000 fighting men, of which 3000 were infantry; there were 1200 camp helpers, 120 miners to break road, and drivers and mechanics. It started with 1500 horses, 13,000 mules and 600 steers. The trip across the Andes took 23 days. On February 12, 1817, the two columns reunited at Chacabuco and found awaiting them a Spanish army of about one half their own strength. San Martín's tactics of diverting the enemy's attention by attacks at various points had succeeded.

The battle was short and the Argentines were completely victorious. Two days later, or on February 14, 1817, San Martín entered Santiago, and sent a memorable despatch to Buenos Aires.--"The Army of the Andes has the glory to report:--In 24 days campaigning, we crossed the highest mountain chain on the globe, finished with the tyrants and have given liberty to Chile."

Chacabuco was the battle of most momentous consequences in South American history. When news of defeats on every hand had killed patriotic hopes and nothing remained to the Argentine but the same humiliating domination which had been imposed on all other Spanish American countries, news of a victory as complete as it was unexpected was heralded from one end of the continent to the other, and faith in the cause of independence was renewed.