18 



Recent Letter from Buenos Ayres. 



[Feb. I, 



will endeavour to give you some idea 

 of the actual condition of this city, and 

 some of the other provinces of the qtiau- 

 dam viceroyalty, as well as of the cha- 



. racter and habits of the ppople. 



The present nominal governor of 

 Buenos Ayres is Valcarce, but it is in 

 effect witliout a government. Offences 

 against persons and |)roperfy may he 

 commit tfd with impunity. In the gene- 

 ral disorder, the meanest criminals are 

 above the reach of punishment, never- 

 theless offences are more rare, than un- 

 der similar circumstances might iiave 

 been expected in any populous city. 

 The Montonero force, composed of the 

 united bands of Artigas and the chief 

 of tlie Entre Rios country Ramirez, 

 with those of Lopez, who governs at 

 Cordova, accomi»atiied or headed l)y 

 Alvear, a weak and impetuous man, the 

 Intemperate enemy of Buenos Ayres, 

 fronr personal disappointment rather 

 than opinion, the friend of Carrera the 

 disturber of Chili, lias for some time 

 threatened the capital, and spread deso- 

 lation through the country which has 

 been the scene of its alternate advances 

 and I'ctreats. Recently tliis f(n-ce has 

 been defeated by the aimy of this city, 

 under the generals Dorego and La Mad- 

 rid. It has consequently retired, and 

 we are relieved for awhile from tlie ap- 

 prehensions its threatening posttire had 

 raised ; Alvear is said to have gone to 

 Monte Video. 



The Banda Oriental is in the hands 



, of the Portuguese. Its territory is de- 

 populated, and its once numerous cattle, 

 the riches of its inhabitants nearly de- 

 stroyed in tile course of the long strug- 

 gles, lirst domestic, and afierwards 

 against the Portut;uese. Artigas, its 

 late bold, intractable, and ignorant 

 ruler, has been driven through the 

 Entre Rios country to the north, about 

 the frontiers of Santa Fe, with whose 

 ruler he lias been in connection. His 

 power and infJnence seem nearly ex- 

 tinct. Dishiterested, and with good, 

 though erroneous intentions, he has 

 done enormous injury, and brought 

 ruin on every one within the circle of 

 his sway. Rlonte Vid,*o and its neigh- 

 bourhood had been during these stnig- 

 gles, abandoned by all the families 

 that could leave it ; now, as some- 

 thing like security, or at least personal 

 protection, is to be found under the 

 military government of the Portuguese, 

 it has become in its turn a refuge to 

 such of the families of Buenos Ayres, 

 as could escape from the anarchy of 

 their city. 



Of the blessings of this military go- 

 vernment, an estimate may hf. formed 

 from the following circumstance: The 

 other day, the Portuguese admiral at 

 Monte Video, flogged sevci-ely, and af- 

 terwards hanged up twice, until nearly 

 dead, the mate of an English s'lip, be- 

 cause he could not move his vessel 

 quickly enougli out of the way, the mas- 

 ter being on shore. Sir Thos. Hardy 

 sent his captain to investigate the mat- 

 ter, and found the statement substan- 

 tially true. The excuse Mas, that he 

 ((he Portuguese admiral) was misin- 

 formed by his officer, who accused the 

 English mate of saying something whi^h 

 he had not said. 



Santa F6 is governed by one Lopez, 

 formerly a parfiznn of Artigas. Our 

 friend lias fixed his resi- 

 dence in the Baxada de Santa F^, a 

 principal place of commerce, and the 

 second in magnitude, in that territory. 

 Tiiere he considers it not ([uite safe to 

 quit his house after sunset. The fol- 

 lowing anecdote, which I have fi'ora 

 himself, will give you some idea of the 

 state of society there at this moment, 

 and of the Strength and intelligence of 



Ramirez's government : , 



when buying hides at the Baxada, had 

 a parcel oHered him by a negro, which 

 he purchased. The next day the same 

 man brought another parcel, when 



recollecting the colour and 



appearance of those of yesterday, called 

 his warehouseman, who recognized 

 them as the same parcel bought some 

 time before, stolen and resold to him the 

 day before — again stolen, and now 



oil'ered for sale the third time ; 



detained the thief, and called on a re- 

 spectable neighbour to accompany him 

 to the commandant for the purpose of 

 preferring iiis accusation ; but his friend 

 said to him, " if you get this thief pun- 

 ished, he will be sure to murder you ; 

 return and make it up with him, say 

 -you were mistaken, pay him again for 

 your own hides, give him a glass of 

 cnna and a scgar, and take better care 

 of your property in future." The ad- 

 vice was attended to, with an apology 

 to the thief for the suspicion of his 

 honesty. He related to me some other 

 analagous anecdotes. The collection of 

 books in the Baxada consists of two odd 

 volumes of a Spanish novel. The pride 

 and poverty of the military, have sug- 

 gested the amusing conceit of march- 

 ing strangers, who arrive in long coals, 

 to the commandant and cutting off the 

 skirts. 

 At Corrientes, where a son of Artigas 



