IN

THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC;

EMBRACING ITS

CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY,

AND

AN ACCOUNT OF ITS POLITICAL CONDITION, BEFORE
AND DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF

GOVERNOR ROSAS;

HIS COURSE OF POLICY; THE CAUSES AND CHARACTER OF HIS
INTERFERENCE WITH THE

GOVERNMENT OF MONTEVIDEO,

AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH LED TO THE INTERPOSITION OF

ENGLAND AND FRANCE.

BY COL. J. ANTHONY KING,

AN OFFICER IN THE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC, AND TWENTY-FOUR YEARS
A RESIDENT OF THE COUNTRY.

NEW YORK:

D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY.

PHILADELPHIA:

G. S. APPLETON, 148 CHESNUT-STREET.

CINCINNATI :-DERBY, BRADLEY, & COMPANY, 113 MAIN-STREET.

M DCCC XLVI.

Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by

JOHN A. KING and THOMAS R. WHITNEY,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

NOTE TO THE PUBLISHERS.

GENTLEMEN

NEW YORK, March 14, 1846.

THE material of this work has been prepared in its present form, from a verbal outline of facts, made to the writer by the narrator himself. The direct experience of Col. King, associated as he was with the leading men of the whole country, during its most troublous times, has enabled him to impart a more thorough information of the condition of the people, their politics, habits, customs, religion, &c., &c., than has ever before been given to the world; while at the same time his long connection with the army, his familiarity with every part of the country, and his extensive travel, afford a fund of deep and thrilling interest.

In preparing the work, I have assumed the attitude of the first person, as the most forcible method of imparting the facts contained therein to the reader; and this statement is made, in order that the possible charge of egotism may not lie at the door of the narrator. He is

4

NOTE TO THE PUBLISHERS.

responsible only for the facts themselves; and any imperfection in the manner of presenting them, as also any false philosophy, or unprofitable speculation that may appear, must rest with the writer, who has the honor to be,

Gentlemen,

Your very obedient servant,

Messrs. D. APPLETON & Co.

THOMAS R. WHITNEY.

PREFACE.

In presenting this work to the public I have been impelled by a sense of duty, rather than a desire to place myself before the eyes of the world. There is a manifest necessity for information respecting the Argentine Republic at the present time, not merely for the satisfaction of the public mind, but also for the use of statesmen both in this country and Europe; and as it is not probable that another person lives (save a native of the country) who has been so long and familiarly identified with the public affairs of that country as myself, I have determined to lay before the world, as nearly as possible, a true statement of occurrences which took place during my residence there. In accomplishing this, I have depended, throughout the narrative, upon the literary aid of Thomas R. Whitney, Esq., author of "The Ambuscade," "Evening Hours," and other works of poetry and prose; and I can frankly say, that without his able assistance the work would, probably, have never been presented to the public.

I have witnessed with pain the apparent want of information evinced by some of our statesmen on this subject, and the headlong course which they seem willing to pursue towards England and France in the matter of the intervention of those governments between Rosas and the