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Read Ebook: Ponce de Leon: The Rise of the Argentine Republic by Pilling William
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Ebook has 1463 lines and 75459 words, and 30 pages
"Then as you are so wise I will tell you. A new Viceroy has come from Spain."
"A new Viceroy!" exclaimed Dolores; then, breaking from him she ran before him to the verandah.
"Mamma!" said she, "great news, there is a new Viceroy, who has come out from Spain. Now we shall be all quiet again, there will be no more quarrels, papa said so, don't you remember?"
As she spoke, Don Carlos started to his feet, and Don Manuel Belgrano, biting his lip pressed his hand upon the breast of his coat, in the pocket of which there was a thick roll of paper.
Marcelino, bending over his mother, kissed her, and then turned to shake hands with his two friends, who stood silent, waiting for him to speak.
"It is true," he said, as he held their hands in his. "Last week Don Baltazar Hidalgo de Cisneros arrived in Monte Video, bringing his appointment by the Junta of Seville as Viceroy of Buenos Aires. When I tell you that Don Martin Alzaga is already his confidential friend I tell you all."
"Don Martin Alzaga! But he is in Patagones," said Do?a Constancia.
"He was, mamita," said Marcelino; "but his exile was short. Elio sent an armed vessel to rescue him and the others; he has been living at his ease in Monte Video for nearly a month now."
"My God! Is there then war between us and Monte Video?"
"Not now, Se?ora," said Eva?a. "This new Viceroy of ours will doubtless soon bring us all to order and make us all good friends again."
As he spoke, another horseman came up the road, and, dismounting at the gate, threw his reins over a post, and walked up the narrow pathway to the house. It was Don Roderigo.
The three younger men stood in silence waiting for him, their anxiety visible in their faces.
"Ah! Marcelino has been before me," said Don Roderigo cheerfully. "You know the news already."
"Yes," replied Don Manuel Belgrano. "How long has this new Viceroy been in Monte Video."
"A week. The north winds have kept the news from us till now. He was expected in Colonia to-day."
"Then to-morrow or the next day we may expect him here," said Eva?a.
"And the Junta of Monte Video?" asked Belgrano.
"It is dissolved."
"And the members imprisoned for their rebellion against the legal authority?" asked Belgrano.
"No," replied Don Roderigo slowly; "they have not been imprisoned. Their proceedings were ill-judged, but they were actuated by a regard for the interests of their country, they cannot be considered as criminals."
"And now they will be the counsellors of our new Viceroy," said Marcelino. "That may not be, Liniers will not give up his authority to men who have shown themselves to be his enemies."
"Quietly, my son," said Don Roderigo, as Do?a Constancia looked up in alarm at Marcelino's indignant words. "Liniers is a loyal servant of Spain, though he is a Frenchman; he will yield at once his authority to a successor legally appointed by the Junta Central."
"Liniers holds his authority from the King of Spain; when the Junta Central have re-established the King, then the King may cancel an appointment which the King made," said Marcelino.
"The appointment of Liniers came from the people," said Eva?a. "Are the people to have no voice in this matter?"
"Liniers has told me of the memorial in favour of free trade, which you had promised to draw up for him," said Don Roderigo, turning to Belgrano, "it will now be useless so far as he is concerned, but if you will oblige me with a copy of it I will take care that it be submitted to the attention of the new Viceroy."
"With much pleasure, Don Roderigo," said Belgrano. "Within two days you shall have a copy, and believe me, that if this Don Baltazar de Cisneros seeks the real welfare of the country, he cannot inaugurate his rule better than by opening our ports to foreign trade."
"I am perfectly of your opinion, Don Manuel," replied Don Roderigo; "with a Spanish Viceroy, reforms are possible which could not be entertained under the rule of a foreigner."
"You have probably seen Don Santiago Liniers to-day," said Eva?a. "Does he himself announce his intention of yielding his authority into the hands of this new Viceroy?"
"He does. Of that there could be no question," replied Don Roderigo.
After some further conversation Don Roderigo and Do?a Constancia retired into the house, and the three friends walked away from the verandah to the gate, where they paused, looking up and down the road and around them, to make sure that no one was within hearing. Eva?a was the first to speak.
"America for the Americans!" said he. "Now has come the time, my friends, for us to put our principles to the test. If this Spaniard lands, we shall lose every advantage we have gained."
"I am not surprised that Liniers should declare his intention of yielding at once," said Belgrano. "He always yields to the first counsellor who gains his ear. He has shown great confidence in me for several months past, I will go to him to-morrow, and I think I can persuade him to put himself at the head of the people."
"You are aware that he rejected a similar proposal from me?" said Eva?a.
"If he yield to Cisneros he signs his own death-warrant," said Marcelino. "He is in no such danger then."
"I shall show him his danger," said Belgrano, "and we must also devise means to prove to him that the people and the troops will support him."
"I can manage that easily, by a popular demonstration," said Eva?a. "I have also another piece of news to tell you, of which my father knows nothing," said Marcelino. "A gentleman, who is nominally travelling for amusement, has to-day arrived from Rio Janeiro, he has brought me a letter from Don Saturnino, his name is Don Feline Contucci. He brings for you, Belgrano, an autograph letter from the Princess Carlota, he is in reality an emissary of hers."
"Bah!" exclaimed Eva?a. "Unless we concentrate all our energies upon one object, we lose everything."
But Marcelino and Belgrano looked at each other, and each read the thought of the other in his glance. There was hope yet of reconciling all differences, and of founding a new Spain in America.
The news of the appointment and arrival of a new Viceroy spread rapidly through Buenos Aires, rousing in the Spaniards hope that their dominion had not yet passed away from them; awakening in the breasts of native Argentines something of fear, for the glamour of centuries is not to be effaced by a year or two of light.
Days of doubt and hesitation succeeded; the new Viceroy approached Buenos Aires with the greatest caution, sending emissaries before him to prepare the people for his coming, and to sound the disposition of the leading citizens and of the troops. When he at last reached Colonia it was with such an escort, as would have befitted a general advancing upon the capital of an enemy. Then Liniers declared openly that he had not the slightest intention of opposing in any way the will of the Junta of Seville and would himself aid the new Viceroy to establish his authority. These words of the Reconquistador were sedulously spread about the city and roused the indignation of the people. They thronged the street in which stood the private residence of their chosen leader, shouting that they would have none other than him to rule over them, and calling upon him to come forth and speak to them.
"You hear the shouts of the mob?" said Don Roderigo Ponce de Leon, who was at that moment with the Viceroy. "As loud as that will they shout 'Viva Cisneros!' when Don Baltazar thinks fit to cross the river."
Then went out Don Santiago Liniers on to his balcony and spoke to the people such words as seemed fittest to quiet them, caring nothing what pledges he might take in their esteem, thinking nothing of the trust they placed in him. To him they listened, and as he concluded by requesting them to disperse, they tossed their hats in the air shouting again:
"Viva Don Santiago Liniers! No queremos otro Virey. Viva!"
Then acceding to his request, each man retired to his own home.
Marshal Don Santiago Liniers standing on his balcony, looking at them as they slowly dispersed, listening to their shouts and cries of confidence and trust, words which he was never more to hear, was aware of a tall man leaning against a door-post some fifty yards off, watching him intently. From this man he could not withdraw his eyes, he felt attracted to him by some deadly fascination for which he could not account, yet there was nothing peculiar in the attitude of this man.
"Don Roderigo," said the Viceroy, stepping back into the room behind him, "look here one moment, tell me if you know this man?"
Don Roderigo stepped onto the balcony and looked over into the street, but the man had left his post and was walking slowly away with his back towards them.
"Is not that Eva?a?" said the Viceroy.
"Eva?a? impossible!" replied Don Roderigo. "There is nothing for which Eva?a has greater contempt than for the shouts of a mob." And so saying he went back and looked no more.
But Liniers lingered on the balcony, still fascinated by the slowly receding figure of the tall man who had looked at him so intently. He watched him till he reached a corner, turned it, and vanished from sight. But it seemed to the Viceroy that, as he vanished, he turned once more to look at him, and raised his hand in angry menace toward the evening sky.
Still borne on the evening air from neighbouring streets came the shouts of the citizens slowly dispersing to their homes:
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