ARGENTINA 



339 



ARGENTINA 



followed, and it was not until 1825 that the 

 first President of the new republic was elected. 



Like the United States, Argentina has sought 

 by its constitution to avoid both the extremes 

 of centralized government and local self- 

 government, by maintaining both national and 

 state (provincial) legislative bodies. The 

 struggle between the extremists began almost 

 with the inception of the government. Riva- 

 davia ended his short service in the Presidency 

 by resigning in 1827. Dorrego, who followed, 

 was deposed by Lavalle; and the popular 

 Rosas, governor of Buenos Aires, was pro- 

 claimed dictator. As an incident of the repub- 

 lic's half century of strife with its neighbors, 

 Great Britain and France intervened in 1845 

 to save Uruguay. Urquiza succeeded in over- 

 throwing Rosas in 1852. Ten years later, it 

 was believed that the happy mean had been 

 reached between the Unitarians (centralists) 

 and the federalists by the adoption of the con- 

 stitution of 1853. This provides for a Presi- 

 dential term of six years, following the prece- 

 dent of the constitution of the so-called Con- 

 federate States adopted in the preceding year. 



The first and second Presidential terms 

 under the new constitution were filled respec- 

 tively by General Bartolome Mitre and Gen- 

 eral Domingo F. Sarmiento, both of them 

 distinguished authors and publicists and men 

 eminent in ability and leadership. The nation 

 prospered. President Sarmiento founded the 

 National Observatory at Cordoba and ap- 

 pointed as director the distinguished astron- 

 omer Benjamin Apthorp Gould, of the United 

 States. From 1865 to 1870 Argentina was 

 compelled to war against the Paraguayan dic- 

 tator, Francisco Solano Lopez, who was 

 finally suppressed. 



.In 1878 the President of the United States, 

 Rutherford B. Hayes, chosen as international 

 arbiter, settled the boundary between Argen- 

 tina and Paraguay, making the Pilcomayo 

 River the dividing line. In 1880 General Julio 

 Roca was chosen President. He was rather a 

 soldier than a statesman, and achieved but a 

 partial success. Juare* Cclman was elected 

 in 1886. The credit of Argentina declined 

 under his reckless and scandalous administra- 

 tion. The great banking house of Baring 

 Brothers, in London, financial agents of tin 

 Argentine government, failed in 1890, and a 

 financial panic swept over the republic. 

 President was compelled to resign, and his 

 term was completed by Carlos Pellegrini, who 

 had been Vice-President. Dr. Saens Pefia.who 



was chosen in 1892, was an able jurist, but 

 failed as an executive, and resigned in the 

 third year of his term, being followed by the 

 Vice-President, Uriburu, in orderly succession. 

 An event of President Pena's term was the 



CHRIST OF THE ANDES 



The great Statue erected Jointly by 



Argentina and Chile. In his book, South Amer- 

 ica, Observations and Impressions, Hon. James 

 Bryce makes this note of the act and of the 

 spirit of the two countries : 



"On the level summit of the pass stands the 

 Christ of the Andes, a bronze statue of more 

 than twice life size standing on a stone pedestal 

 rough hewn from the natural rock. . . . 

 There had been a long and bitter controversy 

 between Chile and Argentina over the line of 

 their boundary along the Andes, a controversy 

 which more than once had threatened war. 

 . . . A of careful inquiry an award 



was delivered and a boundary line drawn in 

 which both nations acquiesced. Grateful for 

 i escape from what might have been a long 

 and ruinous strife, they cast this figure out of 

 the metal of cannon, and set up here this monu- 

 t of peace and good-will, unique In its place 

 and In Its purpose, to be an everlasting witness 

 between them. 



settlement by President Grover Cleveland of 

 a disputed boundary, making the Pcquiry 

 River the line of demarcation through the dis- 

 puted border. General Roca was called back 

 to the office of President in 1898, and h 

 proved a great force for peace. The western 

 boundary of Argentina was settled perma- 

 nently, it was believed, by the arbitration of 

 the United States minister; and the quo 

 of ownership of the south end of the conti- 



