MISCELLANIES. 



6^5 



by native Spaniards ; those of less 

 emolument by Creoles ; the for- 

 mer are regarded as mere sinecures, 

 and the persons enjoying them 

 are considered as in no way ser- 

 viceable to the community except 

 by spending their large salaries 

 within it. 



The fifth class is the militia or 

 soldierj'. Previous to the invasion 

 of the English, the officers were 

 not much noted for military sci- 

 ence, or for that ardour which 

 leads to the acquisition of it; their 

 chief ambition was, to obtain com- 

 mands in towns and villages, espe- 

 cially those on the Portuguese 

 frontier, where they might en- 

 rich themselves by smuggling. 

 The privates were ill-disciplined, 

 badly dressed, and badly paid. The 

 effective force which the crown of 

 Spain maintained in these posses- 

 sions was one regiment of the line, 

 which was to consist of 1,200 men, 

 but was reduced to less than half; 

 one regiment of dragoons amount- 

 ing to 600, two of cavalry called 

 blandengues, 600 each, and one or 

 two companies of artillery. With 

 the exception of the blandengues, 

 all the troops were oriiiinally sent 

 from the Peninsula,'but not having 

 for the last twenty years been re- 

 cruited from thence, their ranks 

 were gradually filled by natives, 

 By eminence they were called ve- 

 terans, but they have been of 

 late disbanded, and their officers 

 have passed to the command of the 

 new corps which were formed on 

 the Englisli invasion. The force 

 of these corps may be estimated 

 at nine thousand men. 



The sixth class is the clergy, in 

 number about a thousand. The 

 seculars are distinguished by their 

 learning, honour, and probity, from 

 the friars, who arc in general so 



grossly ignorant and superstitious 

 that they render no real service to 

 the public in any way, but ra- 

 ther tend to disturb the minds of 

 the honest and well-disposed. 



Every observation I was able to 

 make gave me a favourable idea 

 of the general character of the 

 people: they are tractable, prudent, 

 and generous ; and doubtless, had 

 they been under a milder and 

 more beneficent government than 

 that of the Spaniards, they might 

 have become a model to other co- 

 lonies ; but it is lamentable to add, 

 that in points of morality they 

 cannot be considered as much su- 

 perior to the other inhabitants of 

 America. This is attributable to 

 the want of a proper system of 

 education for youth, to the perni- 

 cious example afforded by the vices 

 of the Europeans, and, in a word, 

 to the prevalence of an intolerant 

 system, which, by aiming to make 

 men what they cannot be, cause 

 them to become what they ought 

 not to be. The excessive rigour 

 exercised by the ministers of wor- 

 ship as well as by the government, 

 for the suppression of immorality, 

 defeats its own end ; it is like the 

 unskilful practice of a physician, 

 which, directed solely against the 

 external symptoms, aggravates in- 

 stead of removing the disease. 

 Thus, while open profligacy is 

 discountenanced in Buenos Ayrcs, 

 libertinism of a more dangerous 

 kind is connived at, if not tolerat- 

 ed ; the peace of the most respect- 

 able private families is liable to be 

 destroyed by votaries of seduction, 

 who respect neither the purity of 

 female virtue, nor the sacred rights 

 of matrimony. This evil pervades 

 all classes of society, and is the 

 source of domestic disputes, which 

 often lead to serious consequences. 

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