Note 81 — Chapter XI · MONTE VIDEO.

It is not within the scope of this publication to give anything like a history of the several places touched at, still less of a place whose late history, in particular, has been so unprecedentedly troublous, even in these regions of disorder, as has that of the capital of the Uruguay. Still a few particulars are essential, and in matters of this sort no authority is preferable to that of Sir W. Parish. Monte Video was commenced in 1726, under the name of San Felipe, Puerto de Monte Video, by Zavala, governor of Buenos Ayres, who had been ordered by the government to make permanent settlements there and at Maldonado, for the more effectual maintenance of the rights of the Spanish crown, after dislodging the Portuguese from the vicinity of the former place, where they had established themselves. Some families were transported thither from the Canaries, and others removed there from Buenos Ayres, in order to secure the privileges offered to the new settlers. The viceroy sent large sums of money from Potosi to carry on the works; and the walls in due time assumed, with the labour of the Guavian Indians, the appearance of an important fortification. In 1808, when the intelligence of the abdication of the king, and the declaration of war against France, was received at Buenos Ayres, Elio, the Governor of Monte Video, was the first to disobey the orders of Don Santiago Liniers, the viceroy at the time; and convoking the inhabitants, established an independent junta of the Monte Videans, after the example of those set up in the Peninsula. They subsequently took their share in the war of independence; and their deputies, with those of all the other provinces of the Rio de la Plata, assembled in congress at Tucuman, solemnly declared their separation from Spain, and their determination to constitute a free and independent State, on the 19th of July, 1816. During the struggle with the mother country, one common object, paramount to all other considerations, the complete establishment of their political independence, bound together the widely spread provinces of the old viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres; but the very circumstances of that struggle, and the vicissitudes of the war, which often for long periods cut off their communications with their old metropolis and with each other, obliging them to provide separately for their new temporary government and security, gave rise, especially in those at a distance, to habits of independence, which, as they acquired strength, loosened, more or less, the ties which bound them to Buenos Ayres, and in some cases produced an entire separation. Amongst others, the Banda Oriental was withdrawn from the authority of the capital by the notorious Artigas, whose anarchical proceedings, fraught with the most fatal consequences to the peace of the republic, afforded a plausible pretext for the occupation of Monte Video by their Portuguese neighbours—the cause, eventually, of a long and ruinous war between the republic and Brazil, which was only terminated by British mediation, and by the territory in question being erected into a new and independent State, in 1828. Some further particulars, respecting both its previous and subsequent history, will be found under the head of Buenos Ayres. Besides Monte Video, the chief towns are Colonia (nearly opposite Buenos Ayres) and Maldonado; together with sixteen smaller towns, several hamlets, and numerous estançias or farms, and ranchos or cottages; but the whole population of the republic, which is divided into nine departments, and covers a fertile area of about 200,000 square miles suited for almost every purpose required by man, does not exceed probably one half the population of Liverpool. Still it is growing, and will continue to grow, for, during the few years of peace, since its independence, the population has increased, that of the capital from about 12,000 to nearly 50,000. The city proper, formerly not extending beyond the citadel (now converted into a marketplace), rapidly spread, and handsome buildings and streets were constructed, extending as far as the recent inner (formerly the outer) lines of the fortification, enlarging the area to several times its previous size. Beyond are villas and ‘saladeros’ (establishments for slaughtering cattle and preparing hides and tallow), while pretty and sometimes spacious suburban dwellings surrounded by well-cultivated gardens, extend to a considerable distance beyond the outer walls.