Part 1

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THE SOCIAL EVOLUTION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

BY

HON. ERNESTO QUESADA

Attorney-General of the Argentine Republic; Professor in the Universities of Buenos Ayres and La Plata

Publication No. 636

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE

Reprinted from THE ANNALS, May, 1911

Price 25 cents

This Reprint is made from the May, 1911, volume of THE ANNALS, the complete contents of which are

INDIVIDUAL EFFORT IN TRADE EXPANSION.

+Hon. Elihu Root+, United States Senator from New York.

THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN STATES.

+Hon. Henry White+, Chairman of the American Delegation to the Fourth International Conference of the American States.

THE FOURTH PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE.

+Paul S. Reinsch+, Delegate to the Fourth Pan-American Conference; Professor of Political Science, University of Wisconsin.

THE MONROE DOCTRINE AT THE FOURTH PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE.

+Hon. Alejandro Alvarez+, Of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Santiago, Chile.

BANKING IN MEXICO.

+Hon. Enrique Martinez-Sobral+, Chief of the Bureau of Credit and Commerce of the Mexican Ministry of Finance.

THE WAY TO ATTAIN AND MAINTAIN MONETARY REFORM IN LATIN-AMERICA.

+Charles A. Conant+, Former Commissioner on the Coinage of the Philippine Islands, New York.

CURRENT MISCONCEPTIONS OF TRADE WITH LATIN-AMERICA.

+Hugh MacNair Kahler+, Editor of "How to Export"; Vice-President, Latin-American Chamber of Commerce; Publisher of the Spanish periodicals, "America" and "Ingenieria."

INVESTMENT OF AMERICAN CAPITAL IN LATIN-AMERICAN COUNTRIES.

+Wilfred H. Schoff+, Secretary, Commercial Museum, Philadelphia.

COMMERCE WITH SOUTH AMERICA.

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN PERU.

+Albert A. Giesecke, Ph.D.+, Rector of the University of Cuzco, Cuzco, Peru.

THE MONETARY SYSTEM OF CHILE.

+Dr. Guillermo Subercaseaux+, Professor of Political Economy, University of Chile.

THE SOCIAL EVOLUTION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.

+Hon. Ernesto Quesada+, Attorney-General of the Argentine Republic; Professor in the Universities of Buenos Ayres and La Plata.

COMMERCIAL RELATIONS OF CHILE.

+Hon. Henry L. Janes+, Division of Latin-American Affairs, Department of State, Washington.

CLOSER COMMERCIAL RELATIONS WITH LATIN-AMERICA.

+Bernard N. Baker+, Baltimore, Md.

IMMIGRATION--A CENTRAL AMERICAN PROBLEM.

+Ernst B. Filsinger+, Consul of Costa Rica and Ecuador, St. Louis, Mo.

Price $1.50 bound in cloth; $1.00 bound in paper. Postage free.

THE SOCIAL EVOLUTION OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC[1]

BY THE HON. ERNESTO QUESADA,

Attorney-General of the Argentine Republic; Professor in the Universities of Buenos Ayres and La Plata.

To condense into a few pages several centuries of the history of a nation like the Argentine Republic, to give some idea of the nature of the forces that have determined the development of this country from the end of the sixteenth century, the period of its discovery, to this the second decade of the twentieth, when it is celebrating the first centennial of its independence, is a task at once delicate and arduous. For, aside from these natural difficulties, it will be necessary to avoid all details, to shun statistics, and even to lay aside historical evidence, in order to crystallize into seemingly dogmatic statements, the complicated social evolution of a people in process of transformation, a people still in a formative period. It is a venture bordering upon the impossible.

A century after the commencement of the conquest of the American continent and after the scattering over the land of the invading race, at once warlike and religious, an expedition which was purely Andalusian discovered the River Plate in the southern extremity of the continent. Instead of penetrating to the south, the expedition fixed its gaze northward, searching for a route by which to renew relations with the rich district of the old empire of the Incas. This was in obedience to that thirst after wealth which characterized the taking possession of America. Two centuries later, these remote provinces had been converted into the very important viceroyship of the River Plate. In one direction it extended from the tropical viceroyship of Peru and the torrid lands of Portuguese Brazil, to Cape Horn, lashed by the raging Antarctic seas, and in the other direction it stretched from the chain of the Andes, which runs like a solid wall the length of one of its flanks, to the Atlantic Ocean, which bathes its extensive coasts. This enormous territory thus embraced every sort of climate, and was inhabited by a heterogeneous collection of aboriginal races. Its conquest and colonization had been effected upon two convergent lines, that by water, by the River Plate, that by land, from the north. This impressed upon the civilization of these regions different characteristics which must be defined since, even after a century of political independence, their mark is still stamped upon the ideals, aspirations and conduct of the inhabitants.

The "Leyes de Indias,"[2] faithful reflections of the purposes of Spanish colonization in America, show how extraordinary was the importance of the native races, how relatively few were the Spanish conquerors and how closely the two races became mingled, through the régime of the _encomiendas_[3] the _mitas_[4] and the _yanaconazgos_.[5] The Spanish colonies were founded and developed in the midst of a mass of people, who, because of their enormous superiority in point of numbers, necessarily reacted in turn upon the small number of the invaders, either by interbreeding with the latter, or by the contact of daily life, or by their superior adaptability to their natural environment. The conquerors themselves presented different traits, according to the region of Spain from which they came, and naturally they sought to group and to settle themselves in obedience to the ethnic affinities of their origin. Biscayans, Basques, Castillians, Aragonese, Andalusians, etc., gave typical characteristics to every American region where they established themselves. They transplanted their social prejudices, their spirit of communal independence, their concentrated energy and their buoyant temperament. From this it resulted that in whatever corner of America a particular Spanish strain of blood was found, there were reflected the traits of the corresponding district of Spain.

As the native races varied according to the region, from those of a peaceful and civilized character to those of an untamable and warlike nature, and even to ferocious savages, the Spanish settlements existed without any common plan. They made a republic with the tribes, and they were the beginning of a creole type which was quite distinct in each locality. In the viceroyship of Buenos Ayres the ethnic geography of the aborigines shows a kaleidoscopic variety of races. In the north and in the regions which formerly had been subject to the rule of the Incas, the population--both servient and dominant classes--was peaceful, attached to the soil, resigned and passive.

In those regions lying between the two great rivers the population was of a gentle and peace-loving nature and, therefore, was easily molded by missionary civilization. Along the slopes of the Andes the people were daring, excitable and independent. The south or Patagonian extremity was overrun by brave and unconquerable tribes, closely related to that Araucanian race which the Spanish conquest never entirely succeeded in subduing. The Spanish settlements on the other hand presented different characteristics. In the north they came from Lima, and were Biscayan and Castillian, aristocratic, very proud of their ancestry, holding aloof, enriched by the mines of Potosi and the commerce of the fleet of Portobello. Southward were Andalusians and Spanish common folk, little given to titles and conventionalities. They were condemned to pursue the smuggler's trade, because the mother country, following an economic error of the time and perhaps owing to deficient geographic knowledge, permitted them only an overland commerce, by mule back, from the Panama fleet which unloaded its cargoes in Callao. Hence in the provinces of the north, called High Peru, and in the present provinces of Jujuy and Tucuman, the Spanish population held up Lima as their ideal, and exhibited both its vices and its virtues. Out of it was formed the aristocratic, commercial and luxurious city of Salta. On the other hand, in the river provinces, the existence of the cities was precarious and fraught with the dangers of a smuggling trade carried on with the Portuguese neighbors--the source of the centuries-old controversy of Sacramento colony. These settlements were not unacquainted with the fear of pirates, of daring navigators and of roving slave dealers, who on their arrival at the River Plate unloaded the "products of their country," with the toleration and secret complicity of the government officials and with the connivance of the inhabitants. These inhabitants were true outlaws. They scoffed at the administration and fiscal measures and trusted more to their fists than they feared being caught in the complicated meshes of the uneconomic laws.

The interbreeding of these different classes of population resulted in creole types, characteristic of each region. In the central cities of the north, they were always aristocratic and devoted to learning, while in the vast stretches of country they lived the semi-feudal life of _encomenderos_. The interbreeding with the Indians formed an inferior class of half breed which approached the type of the mother more than that of the father and which was certainly not a robust or handsome race. In the river region, the population lived on a democratic plane of equality in the cities, while in the rural districts they became that creole type known as the _gaucho_.[6] Found amidst a scattered population and inheriting the far from sedentary habits of the Spanish mother race, the _gaucho_ preferred the free and roving existence of the pampas. He lived by the herds of semi-wild animals, which had multiplied amazingly since Mendoza's expedition had introduced the very limited stock, destined later to be converted into the stupendous riches of this country. In the central, more mountainous region also, the interbreeding of the races produced very definite results and the creole population of the rural districts acquired traits as though living closely associated with the _gauchos_ of the pampas. In the south the aboriginal races remained pure, except for the insignificant mixing which came from the Spanish captive women, victims of the attacks of the Tehuelches populations. Wherever the native population was dense and attached to the soil the creoles living in the country and about the cities show a closer affinity with it, than with the Spanish blood. They adopt native habits and conform to native peculiarities, even to the extent of adopting the melancholy rhythm of the music and songs, those unique _tristes_ which are heard even to-day in the Argentine provinces of the north, from Santiago del Estero to the Bolivian frontier. There the creole laborers of the land and the half breeds of the districts about the cities tenderly preserve the _quichua_, or native language of their ancestors, by intermixing it with the Spanish. The same close affinity with the native element is found in the river provinces, and especially in Corrientes, where in the rural and semi-rural districts the dregs of the missionary population have preserved as their most precious possession the _guarani_ dialect. But, where the native population was more scattered and nomadic, the creole population became transformed and converted into the _gaucho_ or cowboy of the pampas, a very handsome half breed, full of energy, of noble instincts, accustomed to the freest sort of life over boundless plains, where each one depended solely upon himself and recognized no superior. Here we have the explanation of the great hold which this type (_gaucho_) has upon the imagination.

In spite of these differences, however, the colonial life was stamped with a certain uniformity which served as a background for these local peculiarities. Spanish-American society was zealously preserved from contact with other European nations. Only inhabitants of Spain were free to go and come, so that this triple characteristic--that they were Spanish, monarchical and orthodox Catholic--was the salient feature common to all South America. The person of the monarch and the supreme authority of the colonial office were very distant and the tribunals of the viceroys and governors holding actual sessions there upon the territory, were the real and tangible personifications of the monarchy. The Pope himself was also very distant and had given over the superintendence of ecclesiastical affairs to the crown, which had in turn confided it to the respective viceroys. The bishops and religious orders were, strictly speaking, the visible representatives of religion. In this way throne and altar came in touch with the colonial populations, who took heated sides in the formidable conflicts which used to arise between the representatives of each. But they retained respect for them; they recognized their high merits and prerogatives and obeyed them as representing that which could neither be questioned nor altered. Public officials of all grades were drafted from Spain and remained for definite periods. The laws forbade them to mix with the populations and they kept themselves aloof, with the ostensible purpose of assuring their complete impartiality. But the result was that they tried to take advantage of their period in office to swell their personal fortunes, without allowing themselves to be deterred by any scruples or drawing rein to their appetites. The priests even, both secular and those regularly ordained, allowed themselves to be carried away by that spirit of self-seeking which led them to look upon America as a mine to be exploited.

Doubtless there were zealous officials both civil and religious who performed the best type of service. The Spaniards were established amidst a native population, who devoted themselves to commerce or to mining in the north, and to the raising of cattle and lesser trades in the river and central districts, and they always looked upon their residence in this part of American territory as a temporary sojourn, during which to acquire riches. The creoles, of every class, both of the city and of the country, perhaps because they seemed to be looked down upon by the Spaniards, were unconsciously trying to enlarge their hold upon affairs of all kinds. They felt themselves, as it were, rooted to the soil, and far from proceeding only from selfish motives of money making, they took an interest in local affairs, which, for them, were of greater importance than those of a crown, only vaguely known to them by report. The city creoles, thanks to an advanced communal spirit, aroused by the establishment of the _cabildos_ or Spanish town council, were diligently at work on their own municipal problems. They thus became accustomed to limit their horizon to the limits of their own city and of the immediately surrounding country district, because communication between the cities was slow, difficult and dangerous, a condition which resulted in their virtual isolation from each other. The city might almost be regarded as the center of their universe. From the rest of the world news arrived months and years later, tempered or misrepresented. It awakened not the faintest echo. It might as well have been the news of far away ages and peoples.

The mass of the natives, with whose women the military and civil population cohabited, since relatively few Spanish women came to America, took no interest whatsoever in the affairs of a monarchy which was not that of their ancestors but of a race different from themselves. They showed, rather, such a passive indifference that each community seemed a world unto itself, occupied and pre-occupied only with its own matters. The religious and civil officials, in their turn, were soon contaminated by this environment. They gave to local affairs so excessive an importance that it also appeared to their eyes as if the boundary of the Indian city was the _ultima Thule_ of civilization. In the northern provinces, which had reached the final stage of perfection under the old Inca conquest, the native population preserved and protected its pre-Columbian traditions by the use of their dialect, the _quichua_ tongue. The régime of the _encomienda_, the _mitas_ and the _yanaconazgo_ had produced only a formal subjection of the natives. In the depths of their souls the natives preserved and fostered traditions of bygone centuries. In this way the creoles, the product of interbreeding, were recast into the dense mass of the Indian population and became more conversant with American traditions than Spanish.

Amongst the missionary converts, the Jesuits had erected cities that flourished artificially under their care. They were inhabited only by Indian races, and the Jesuits zealously guarded them from contact with the Spaniards whom they removed far from their admirable theocratic empire as though they were the very incarnation of evil. An unreal civilization was thus created, governed patriarchially by the priests and without any vitality of its own. Hence, the expulsion of the priests by the _coup d' état_ of Charles III brought about the destruction of these populations, which had realized during the century of their existence, the ideal of the most exacting of Utopian civilization. But the results were not such as had been desired. These Indians, on being distributed over the colonies, did not coalesce with the rest of the inhabitants, but returned to the depths of barbarism or, as in the present province of Corrientes, constituted the mass of the population, an element indifferent to national interests just as the old missionaries had been to those of the crown and sensible only to the recollection of their ancient and traditional life, that is to say, to their own local affairs.

In the central and river provinces, the marvelous increase of animals capable of domestication but still in a wild state brought about a profound transformation. The native tribes, sparser than in the north, without losing any of their savage customs, soon possessed themselves of the horse and overran the boundless pampas. The creoles of the country districts and the _gauchos_ in their turn vied for the possession of the horse. No longer able to remold their life to that of the savage tribes, they checked their bold and ferocious habits and became keen and cautious, forming a race of special type, midway between the Indian and the Spaniard. They were extreme individualists, for in the immense pampas, authority, both civil and religious could obtain but a weak hold. The _gaucho_ made so complete a face-about from his former self as to devote his life solely to cattle raising. He evolved a special fitness or adaptability to his new life and created the most curious types, from the _sumbon compadrito_ with his peculiar cloak and _chiripa_, who flashed his sarcastic jests with such grace and elegance, to the poet troubador and famous animal tracker who was but little less keen than the hound in scenting and following the trail of man or beast. As the _gauchos_ came in contact with not a few of the city population, upon whom they were dependent for obtaining the things they needed in exchange for pelts and the products of the country, they formed with such of the latter as came most closely in touch with them, a community of ideas and aims. Thus by busying themselves only with their own special lives, they became independent and without attachment for any but their respective municipal centers. Each region possessed its local feature, each was separated from the rest and all were but nominally linked and united with their remote and common monarch.

In the River Plate region, leaving aside the factor of geographic interest, to which I have just made allusion, the racial history was limited to the Spanish population and its Creole interbreeding with the native races, because the negro population had no importance whatsoever, in this part of America. The quantity of negro slaves introduced by the "dealers" was reduced to a minimum, and even these, upon the breaking out of the war of independence, were killed off, for now that their masters were freeing them, they formed the great body of the troops. In this way they helped the American cause. The mulattoes, consequently, were also reduced in number. This process was carried to such a point that the singular scarcity of pure negroes or even of mulattoes was a real characteristic of this country.

Foreign influence could only penetrate by way of the Atlantic, and even then only covertly, unless it were by crossing the rocky barrier of the Andes. The Portuguese influence was limited to the profitable commercial relations with the smugglers. That of other nations only made itself felt through the occasional visits of ships forced to take shelter in the La Plata from time to time, or dropping anchor upon various pretexts, but always with the intention of smuggling. This was an open secret to the then few inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, the possibilities of which as a port, although gainsayed by the crown, had been ordained by nature. When, during the last days of colonial domination, commerce was permitted to the port of Buenos Ayres, there was no longer time for foreign influence to penetrate to the heart of the country. The English invasions left a greater residue of influence through the distribution of the English prisoners, who in great part established homes in the midland regions to which they were sent. There, in the midst of the Spanish families, with whom they were left, they disseminated ideas of liberty and standards of independence, unknown among the rest of the population, the best classes of which in those days of unrest, were a turbulent and irrepressible element.