APPENDIX. 



345 



it, also refuse to acknowledge the authority of the government of 

 Buenos Ayres. 



In Paraguay, the events of the revolution have differed from 

 those in any other province, as the inhabitants of that country have 

 uniformly resisted the efforts of the other provinces to unite with 

 them. After having aided the Spanish placed over them, to repel 

 a military force which had been sent to overthrow them, they 

 themselves expelled from their country these authorities, and es- 

 tablished a government of their own, totally unconnected with 

 that of the other provinces, with whom they manifest an unwil- 

 lingness to keep up even a commercial intercourse. This has 

 given rise to a suspicion in the minds of some, that there is a se- 

 cret predilection among them for the ancient order of things. 

 But from what is said of their cold and calculating character, 

 from the safe position of their country, and its capacity to supply 

 its own wants, it is probable that their object is to husband their 

 resources, and profit by the exertions of others, without giving 

 their own in aid of them; and possibly in case of ultimate failure, 

 to place their conduct in a less objectionable point of view before 

 the government of Spain. Whatever may have been their mo- 

 tives, they have hitherto contrived to escape, in a great measure, 

 the evils of war. 



Their resources in men and money are said to be considerable, 

 and no country is more independent of foreign supplies. 



Their conduct furnishes a striking contrast to that of the peo- 

 ple of Buenos Ayres, who entered into the revolution with un- 

 bounded zeal and energy, and have ever been ready to meet the 

 difficulties of so great an undertaking. This circumstance, con- 

 nected with their local situation, greater resources, and more ge- 

 neral information; and perhaps the fact of their having been the 

 first to get power into their hands, have had the eftect to give 

 them a controling influence over the revolutionary government, 

 which has not failed to excite, in some degree, the jealousy of the 

 other provinces, and amongst themselves a feeling of superiority 

 little calculated to allay that jealousy. Great evils were, at one 

 time, apprehended from this state of things, but the congress which 

 met at Tucuman, in March, 1816, composed of deputies from the 

 several provinces then united, assumed the sovereign power of 

 the country, boldly declared its absolute independence, and 

 VOL. I. 44 



