The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-04 00:00:00

BRITISH INTERVENTION 1N

LA PLATA.

[Since the following remarks on this subject were
in type, we have learnt, frpm authority, that very
considerable changes have been made as to the manner
in which the proposed intervention in the affairs of
Buenos Ayres and Monte Video will take place. On
the 6th of February Sir Robert Peel, it may be recol-
lected, spoke in the House of Commons of combined
operations by England and France, " and, as he ex-
pected, by Brazil," to put an end to the interruption
of the navigation of La Plata ; and instructions were,
it is known, given to Mr. Gore Ouseley, our newly ap-
pointed Charge d'Affaires at Buenos Ayres, in that
sense, previously to his departure from town in the i
course of last week. At a Cabinet Council held sub-
sequently, on Monday, the 20th of February, it
was, however, resolved by her Majesty's Ministers
that the proposed intervention should be made, so far
as this country is concerned, singly and without con-
cert either with France or Brazil ; thus leaving Eng-
land free from the embarrassments which combined in-
terference was not unlikely to beget. It was likewise
resolved that the intervention should be of an entirely
pacific and friendly character; and that as a proof
thereof to Rosas, Commodore Purvis, who came
into collision with that chief when he broke the
Buenos Ayrean blockade of Monte Video, should be
recalled from Rio de Janeiro, so that he might not,
under any circumstances, re-enter La Plata. These
resolutions were, we have reason to know, embodied
in fresh instructions for Mr. Gore Ouseley, and only
overtook him as he was about to embark for Buenos
Ayres :—]
The publication of another able and interesting
pamphlet,* by Mr. Mallalieu, induces us again to
refer to its subject, the affairs of La Plata, the im-
portance of which is certainly in an inverse ratio to
the information current thereon. Mr. Mallalieu's
main objects in this, his second publication, are-1.
The vindication of General Rosas from the charges
of Indarte, the Monte Videan press, and Unitarian
party generally ; and. 2. The prevention, if possible,
of any intervention in the quarrel between Buenos
Ayres and Monte Video. In the former Mr. Melia-
lieu is, we think, eminently successful; but in the
latter he has not, we confess, persuaded us that it is
against the interest and the honour of England to
pacify La Plata.
The question of Rosas's character—which has been
most unnecessarily dragged into the controversy--is
one of degree only. That he is a man of blood is, we
fear, undeniable; but that he is not the monster—
the wholesale assassin his political enemies assert,
Mr. Mallalieu certainly proves. He has risen to
power, as do most Spanish South American chiefs,
by violence ; rules with a strong and unscru-
pulous arm ; and will only abandon his position
when driven from it by the means he attained
it. This, we are inclined to believe, is the ut-
most that can fairly be charged against him. The
accusations of having driven through the streets of
Buenos Ayres in a chariot drawn by naked women,
of having pickled the ears of one of his opponents as
an ornament for his daughter the Senorita Manue-
lita, of manufacturing in his own house whips out
of human skins, of having poisoned four, cut the
throats of 3,765, shot 1,397, poinarded 722, and killed
otherwise in cold blood 1,600 of his opponents, besides
sacrificing the lives of 14,920 in battle, assuredly re-
quire some better testimony to induce belief than In-
darte, the news-writer of Monte Video, and his very
penny-a-line-looking Tabas de Sangre; more espe-
cially when Mr. Mallalieu produces evidence that
many of the victims recorded in these bloody tablets
are still " alive and kicking ;" and when this dealer
in horrors, " wholesale and for exportation," was, it
turns out, a burglar, a larcener, and a forger in his
youth. Mr. Mallalieu does not whitewash Rosas,
but he certainly rubs a good deal of the black from
the picture the enemies of that chief have so coarsely
and unscrupulously daubed in; and as "the spirit of
man" is not "divine" in South America, that is no
small service to General Rosas.
We can further agree with Mr. Mallalieu in think-
ing that, on the whole, Rosas' dictatorship has not
been prejudicial :to Buenos Ayres. He upheld the
dignity of the Argentine Republic in the quarrel with
France, has preserved internal tranquillity, has kept
out of debt, and has consolidated the Confederation
over which he presides ; and under his administra-
tion both its population and its trade have increased.
He has, doubtless, tyrannised over it ; but the alterna-
tive in South America seems to be—tyranny or
revolution ; and of the two, a Government a little too
strong is assuredly preferable. In these respects (and
to all who desire authentic information on them, we
recommend Mr. Mallalieu's pamphlets), the state of
the Argentine Republic is the best refutation to the
charges against Rosas, as was the state of Paraguay
to the calumnies by which only—and not his many
compensating merits—Dr. Francia was known in
Europe.
Here, however, our concurrence in Mr. Mallalieu's
views terminates. The personal character of Rosas
and the results of his dictatorship in the Argentine
Republic have, in our opinion, little or nothing to do
with the larger question of interference in the affairs
of La Plata. Neither has, we must also think, that
to which Mr. Mallalieu is desirous of tracing
the solicitation for our interference—viz., the Monte
Video loan jobbing of certain resident English mer-
chants. We know nothing, except what Mr. Malla-
lieu tells us of such jobbing, and yet we are the ad-
vocates of intervention ; and if we can, ignorant
thereof, advocate, Lord Aberdeen may surely autho-
rise it without bing chargeable of subserviency to
the jobbers.
We advocate intervention, because the independence
of Monte Video is involved in the success of General
Oribe and his ally Rosas ; 1. Because we look on the
fall of that city as the subjection of the Banda
Oriental, really, though not, perhaps, at first nomi-
nally, to Rosas ; 2. Because such subjection, real or
nominal, would move him sovereign of the La
Plata, the Uruguay, and the Parana; 3. Be-
cause such sovereignty would enable, or, at
least, greatly assist him to overrun all the
ancient viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres ; 4. Be-
cause the extension of his influence or his Go-
vernment over the Banda Oriental would give him
the means, which we fear he would not be slow to
use, of convulsing the internal tranquillity of
the empire of Brazil ; 5. Because British media-
tion and intervention in 1828 established the jade.
pendence of the Banda Oriental, and guaranteed its
continuance; and, 6. Because the faith of the Bri-

tish Crown is by implication pledged to Brazil for
the free navigation of La Plata by the subjects of
that empire. With Mr. Mallalieu, we hold interven-
tion generally to be repugnant to the law of nations ;
but so good a jurisconsult as he is will see in the sth
and 6th of the foregoing reasons irresistible interna-
tional grounds for intervention in the present case.
But Oribe is, Mr. Mallalieu assures us, the law-
fully elected President of Monte Video, and Ri-
vera was—for his presidency has now expired—
merely a nominee of the foreign residents of
that city. We decline sifting the grounds
of this assurance; we are content with knowing
that Rivera was the de facto President, and that
Oribe can only be successful against the people who are
said to have elected him, by the arms of Rosas.
Oribe is but the tool of Rosas; his triumph will be
Riisas's gain. The struggle is not one of disputed
presidency ; the real issue is the independence or de-
pendence of Monte Video. But were it otherwise,
England recognised the presidency of Rivera when
she concluded with him a treaty of commerce.
Sir Robert Peel, it may be recollected, in announ-
cing on the 6th of February the intervention of Eng-
land and France, " trusted they would have the con-
currence of Brazil." To this Mr. Mallalieu objects
that Brazil was the prime mover of the intervention.
We agree with Mr. Mallalieu that the Premier's
wish was unnecessary ; for it is notorious that in-
tervention was the immediate object of Viscount
D' Abrantes' mission to Europe. But who, may we ask
Mr. Mallalieu, so deeply interested in the indepen-
dence of Monte Video as Brazil ? Its downfal would
bring Rosas in contact with the Brazilian province of
Rio Grande, and place the internal tranquillity of
the empire at the mercy of its old enemy, embittered
by a knowledge that Brazil has assisted Monte Video
in resisting his arms, and has stirred Corrientes up to
rebellion against him. Mr. Mallalieu surely could not
expect Brazil to be quiescent under such prospects ?
Though differing thus materially from Mr. Malla-
lieu, his pamphlet has, we reiterate, taught us much
we were before uninformed of ; and if of other English
writers Rosas can fairly complain, in him at least he
has found a generous, an able, and a most successful
defender.

* " Rosas and his Calumniators. The Justice and
Policy of a Triple Alliance. Intervention of England,
France, and Brazil, in the Affairs of the River Plata,
considered in Letters t the Right Hon. the Earl of
Aberdeen, K.T.S. By Alfred Mallalieu, Esq."—Atlas.

Count St. Au!sire, the French Ambassador, trans-
acted business yesterday at the Foreign-office.
_

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