448 SPANISH AMERICA. 



and much bloodshed. These last-mentioned 

 contests appear to have been, in a great 

 measure, caused by what has produced so 

 many deadly feuds in other quarters of the 

 world — the ambition of individuals, each 

 aiming at the attainment and possession of 

 power. 



Previously to these events, a project had 

 been conceived by the French government, 

 of establishing an hereditary monarchy in 

 the provinces of La Plata, which was to 

 comprise not them alone, but those of Monte 

 Video, the whole of the Banda Oriental, 

 Entre Rios, Corrientes, and Paraguay, and 

 to place a prince of the house of Bourbon 

 upon the new throne ; the powers of the 

 monarch to be limited by a constitution. A 

 proposition to this effect was made by the 

 French minister for foreign affairs, to the 

 government of Buenos-Ayres. This propo- 

 sition was taken into consideration by the 

 Congress, on the r2th of November 1819, 



