Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-09-26
The South American States.

1 Inc cOnultlOn OF the South American
continent, taken as a whole, is not a
satisfactory one, whatever way we view
it. Politically it is split up into num-
Der Of separate states, few of which
possess any real political vitality, and
nearly all of which are toe poor to OBJ
tain any stable position as traders
among the nations of the world. The
same dominance of the soldiery which
has nearly destroyed old Spain has
helped to prevent hitherto the develop
ment of most of those offshoots from her
South America. There is, to all ap-
pearance, an absence of the capacity for
creating sOlidly based civil institutions
in the Spanish race, and although these
Spanish colonies have all thrown off the
yoke of the mother country, they have
made next to no progress in the art of
self-government. Not one of them can
show an orderly, well-knit system of
authority, such as Prescott, for instance,
says-no doubt with exaggeration-the
Incas of Peru or the AEtecs of Mexico
possessed.
The Spaniard of America is civilly
degraded being, through the supersti-
tions which have so long nodded the
quality of his mind, and the mixed
races and natives whom he has called
into being or subdued, have never risen
TO the position of the peaceful, order
loving citizens offree states. Therefore
We find continual wars going on, brig
sndage and murder rife, i'm even the
most promising of the states, and an
absence OF any progress worthy of the
name in every Spanish republic save
one. Public offices are filled through
corruption, and integrity and fair deal
ing are qualities almost unknown. When
contrasted with the United States, the
utter backwardness of all South Ameri-
can states comes with startling force on
the mind of the political student. The
very beginnings of life which society
evinces there serve but to suggest, as it
were, the corruption which makes one
almost despair of these states ever de-
veloping into healthy political organi-
cations.
Chilli alone among the Spanish states
of South America has made real pro-
gress in the art Of self government, and
has been blessed with internal peace for
generation. Among the rest, the Ar
gentine Confederation, Peru, and Mexico
stand prominently forward as eOmmu-
mites of whom much has been expected, !
but which have yet performed little.
The Argentine Confederation had war
on the occasion of the election of the |
last president, and has had more than
one civil disturbance since. The gov
ernment is too weak either to repress
the sOldiery or to prevent crime, and its
outlying provinces are subjected to a
from bands of ruffians, which
at times threatens to depopulate the
country. What progress and enlight-
eminent the republic has is due mainly
to the influence of people of other than
Spanish ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, German,
if these cannot get and
maintain the upper hand, revolutions,
possibly dismemberment,
will attend the future of this state.
More disheartening, perhaps, is the
of Peru, where the Spaniard
has more exclusive possession of the
iestinies of the country, and wastes its
wealth to the top of his bent. To find
another orderly government we have to
leave Spanish possessions altogether,
and betake ourselves to the vast Portu-
guese empire of Brazil, which under
the old reigning house of Portugal has
attained to a certain importance and
order. Poor as this may be, compared
with the higher civilizations of the old
world, it nevertheless places Brazil first
among the states of South America
Frdser's Magazine.