It does not have a political constitution, and in this is the only exception on the whole continent.
There is no question now as to whether it should be centralist or federal. If it is federal, so be it, but let there be a law that regulates that federation; let there be a federal constitution. Although the written charter or constitution is not the law or the pact, nevertheless, she proves it, she fixes it and keeps it invariable. The written word is a need of order and harmony. The stability of any important contract is guaranteed in writing: what contract could be more important than the great constitutional contract?
Nor is there a question as to whether it should be liberal. Let it be despotic, let it be tyrannical, if it wishes, that law; but let there be a law. That at least is progress, that tyranny is practiced by law instead of by the will of one man. The worst of despotism is not its harshness but its inconsequence. The written law is as immutable as faith.
To say that the Argentine Republic is not capable of governing itself under a constitution, even if it is despotic or monarchical, is to imply that the Argentine Republic is not in the same league as any of the states of South America, but below them all; it is to imply that she is less capable than Bolivia, than Ecuador, than Paraguay, which good or bad possess a written constitution that is passably observed.
This is absurd.
The Argentine Republic has more means of organization than any other state of South America. What it needs is to coordinate these means.
Which of them possesses the most real, effective, and recognized power? He who claims to have the power, to have the foundation stone of the political edifice.
That power needs a law because it does not have it. It is objected, that with it the fact of its existence would be impossible.—In such a case, make it as despotic as one wishes; but give it a law. Without that law of internal subordination, the Argentine Republic may have a beautiful exterior,
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but it will be nothing within but a tomb of the living. Otherwise it is better to be Argentine from afar, to receive the honorable reflection of the glory without feeling the hero’s feet on one’s shoulders.
What state of South America possesses a respectively higher number of enlightened inhabitants willing to occupy themselves with industry and work, as a result of the tiredness and weariness of the previous disturbances?
There are those who see a germ of disorder in the return of the émigrés. But that is to fear the conduct of the sinner precisely because he emerges from education. Emigration is the richest school for teaching: Chateaubriand, Lafayette, Mme. Staël, King Louis Philippe28 are illustrious disciples educated by her. Argentine emigration is the instrument prepared to serve the organization of the country, perhaps in the hands of Rosas himself. His current men are soldiers because up until now they have done nothing but fight: for peace, people of industry are needed; and Argentina’s emigrants have had to cultivate this in order to survive abroad.
What today is emigration was the most skilled portion of the country, as it was the richest; it was the most educated, as it asked for institutions and understood them. If it is agreed that Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, where they have mainly resided, are countries that have much good in terms of examples, one must admit that the emigrants who have settled there have had to learn, at least to lead a quiet and busy life.
How could they leave and take dangerous habits with them? He who is less willing to emigrate is he who has emigrated once before. One does not emigrate twice in life. The first is enough to make one circumspect.
Moreover, have not those émigrés, almost all of whom were young when they left, grown in age, in habits of restfulness, in experience? It is indubitably so. But one makes the mistake of supposing them still as restless, fervent, demanding, zealous, with all the qualities they had when they left the country.
In this regard, what happens in Buenos Aires is reproduced in all the provinces.—In all of them there are today abundant materials of order: as they have all suffered, in all of them the spirit of moderation and tolerance
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has taken root. The longing to change things radically has already disappeared. Many influences have been accepted that before were rejected, and in which today normal things are seen that it is necessary to have if one is to establish order and power.
Those who before were repelled with the dictate of caciques are today accepted in the bosom of society in which they have made themselves worthy, acquiring more educated habits, more civilized sentiments. Those chiefs, once coarse and rustic, have cultivated their spirit and character in the school of leadership, where many times inferior men are ennobled and enlightened. To govern ten years is to take a course in politics and administration. Each of those men is today one of the means to reach in the interior a stable and advantageous arrangement.
There is no one better than Rosas himself and the circle of important men who surround him to lead the country to the execution of a general arrangement at this time.
What has Rosas done thus far to the advantage of the country, speaking impartially and in good faith?—Nothing:—A great noise, and a great accumulation of power. That is to say, he has laid the foundations of something that does not yet exist and is about to be created. Making noise and accumulating power for the sole pleasure of appearances and authority is frivolous and puerile. These things are obtained in order to operate other real things of genuine importance to the country. Napoleon triumphed in Jena, in Marengo, in Austerlitz, in order to be emperor and to enact the five codes, found the university, the École Normale, and other establishments, by which he endures longer in the memory of the world than by the laurel wreath and the bronze.
Rosas has not yet done anything useful for his country; until now he has been making preparations. He has more power than anyone to do good: just as steam drives the progress of industry, so his arm could propel Argentine progress.
So far he is not a great man: he is only an extraordinary man. Only he who does great things of durable and evident use to the nation deserves the title of great. To obtain fame one need only do surprising things, no matter how extravagant and sterile they are. If Rosas were to disappear today, what would remain that had been created by his hand? What could rouse the sincere gratitude of his homeland? Having temporarily repelled the claims of England and France?
That may have a vain splendor, but it does not amount to a real benefit,
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because the repelled pretensions do not compromise an interest in any way grave for the Argentine republic.
Having created power? Not even this. Power is not that useful institution, suitable for freedom itself, when it is not an institution organized on invariable bases. Until now, it is an accident: it is the mortal person of Rosas.
It is inconceivable that neither he nor his circle concern themselves with this question, nor work so that the terrible things done until now give at least some fruit of benefit that could justify those things in the eyes of posterity, whose first ranks are only one step from those men!
What are they waiting for, then, to make a start on their work?
The establishment of a general peace, they respond.
This is an error! Peace can come only via the path of law. The constitution is the most powerful means of pacification of internal order. The dictatorship is a constant provocation to fight: it is sarcasm, it is an insult to those who obey it without reservations, without limits. The dictatorship is anarchy formed and converted into a permanent institution. Chile owes its peace to its constitution, and there is no durable peace in the world that does not originate in an explicit agreement that ensures the balance of all public and personal interests.
The reputation of Rosas is so incomplete, it is so exposed to turning into smoke and nothingness. There is so much ambiguity in the value of his titles, so much