Civilization and Barbarism/Chapter 10
CHAPTER X.
CIVIL WAR.
What has become of Facundo in the mean time? At Tablada he had lost everything,—arms, officers, men, reputation; everything except rage and valor. Moral, governor of Rioja, taken aback by the news of this unlooked-for disaster, availed himself of a slight excuse for leaving the city, and from Sañogasta sent Quiroga a despatch offering him what assistance the province could afford. Before the expedition the friendship between this nominal governor and the all-powerful commander had somewhat cooled. Quiroga thought he had not had the full number of armed men that he considered due him from the result of the census, in addition to the troops already in the province, and which had come from Tucuman, San Juan, Catamarca, etc. And another circumstance strengthened the suspicions with which Quiroga regarded the governor. Sanogasta was the manorial residence of the Dorias Davilas, the enemies of the commander; and the governor, foreseeing what the suspicions of Facundo would deduce from the date of the despatch, dated it from Uanchin, a place about four leagues distant. But Quiroga knew that Moral was in Sañogasta, and all his doubts were confirmed. Fontanel and Barcena, two of Facundo's odious instruments, were sent out with a party to scour the country for the purpose of impressing as many men as they could find, but the inhabitants took care to escape, so that they were not very successful in their day's hunt, and returned with only eleven persons who were shot upon the spot. Don Inocencio Moral, an uncle of the governor, with his two sons, one only fourteen years of age, were among the victims of that day. There was also among them a Don Mariano Pasos, who had once before incurred the anger of Quiroga. When he was starting on one of his previous expeditions, this man, seeing the disorderly troops, had said to a fellow-merchant, "What men for fighting!" Quiroga hearing it, had the two criticizers brought before him; one was tied to a post and received two hundred lashes, while the other stood by awaiting his share. The latter, however, was spared when his turn came, and afterwards became the governor of Rioja and a great friend of Quiroga.
Meanwhile, Governor Moral, knowing what he might expect, fled from the province, but he was eventually caught, and received seven hundred lashes for his ingratitude, for it was he who had shared the eighteen thousand dollars extorted from Dorrego. That Barcena before mentioned was ordered to assassinate the commissioner of the English mining company; and I heard from himself the details of this atrocious murder, which he committed in his own house, desiring his wife and children to stand out of the way of the balls and sword-cuts.
Barcena accompanied Oribe in his expedition to Cordova; and during a ball given in honor of the triumph over Lavalle, threw the bloody heads of three young men into the hall where their families were dancing. This Barcena was the leader of the band of Mazorqueros which went with the army sent to Cordova in persecution of Lavalle, a regularly organized band, each Mazorquero wearing at his side a knife with a blade curved like a small cimeter, which was invented by Rosas himself for the purpose of beheading men dexterously.
What motive could Quiroga have had for these atrocities? He is said to have told Oro at Mendoza that his only object was to inspire terror. And again, during the continual assassinations of wretched peasants, on his way to the head-quarters at Atiles, one of the Villafañes said to him in a tone of fear and compassion, "Is it not enough, General?" "Don't be a fool," Quiroga answered; "how else can I establish my power!" This was his one method,—terror with the citizen, that he might fly and leave his fortune; terror with the gaucho, to make him support a cause in which he had no personal interest. With him terror took the place of administrative power, enthusiasm, tactics, everything. And it cannot be denied that terror, as a means of government, produces much larger results than patriotism or liberty. Russia has made use of it from the time of Ivan, and has conquered the most barbarous nations; the bandits of the forest obey the chief, wielding this power which controls the fiercest natures. It is true that it degrades men, impoverishes them, and takes from them all elasticity of mind, but it extorts more from a state in one day than it would have given in ten years; and what does the rest matter to the Czar of Russia, the bandit chief, or the Argentine commander?
Facundo ordered all the inhabitants of Rioja to emigrate to the Llanos under pain of death, and the order was literally obeyed. It is hard to find a motive for this useless emigration. Quiroga was not apt to fear, yet he might have feared at the moment; for the Unitarios were raising an army in Mendoza to take posession of the government; Tucuman and Salta were on the north; and on the east, Cordova, Tablada, and General Paz; he was, therefore, pretty well surrounded, and a general hunt might very well have brought the Tiger of the Llanos at bay. These terrorists do have their moments of fear: Rosas cried like a child when he heard of the rebellion at Chascomus, and eleven huge trunks were packed with his effects ready to fly an hour before news came of the victory of Alvarez. But woe to the people when such moments have passed! Then follow September massacres, and pyramids of human heads arise in the squares!
Notwithstanding the order of Facundo, two persons remained in Rioja—a young girl and a priest. The story of Severa Villafañe is a pitiful romance; a fairy tale in which the loveliest princess is a wandering fugitive, sometimes disguised as a shepherdess, sometimes begging a morsel of bread, or for protection from a frightful giant,—a cruel Bluebeard. Severa had the misfortune to excite the lust of the tyrant, and made superhuman efforts to escape his persecution. It was not only virtue resisting seduction, but the unconquerable repugnance of a delicate woman who detests those coarse types of brute force. A beautiful woman will sometimes barter something of her honor for something of the glory which surrounds a celebrated man; not for the glory which depends on the debasement of others for its brilliancy, but the glory which was the cause of Madame de Maintenon's frailty, or the literary glory to which Madame Roland and other such women are said to have sacrificed their reputations. For whole years Severa resisted. At one time she came near being poisoned by her tiger; at another, Quiroga, in a fit of desperation, tried to poison himself with opium. Once she escaped with difficulty from the hands of some of his creatures, and again she was surprised by Quiroga in her own court-yard, where he seized her by the arm, beat her with his fist until she was covered with blood, then threw her upon the ground and kicked in her skull with the heel of his boot. And was there no one to protect this poor girl, no relatives, no friends! One might well think so; yet she belonged to the first families of Rioja; General Villafañe was her uncle, she had brothers who witnessed the outrages; and there was a cur who shut the doors against her when she sought a refuge in the sanctuary. Finally, Severa fled to Catamarca and went into a convent; two years afterwards, when Facundo was passing through that place, he forced his way into the convent, and ordered the nuns into his presence; at the sight of him one nun uttered a cry and fell senseless upon the floor—it was Severa.
But we must return to the encampment at Atiles, where an army was preparing for the purpose of recovering the reputation lost at Tablada. Two Unitarios of San Juan had fallen into the hands of the tyrant: a young Chilian by the name of Castro y Calvo, and Alexandro Carril. Quiroga asked the latter how much he would give for his life.
"Twenty-five thousand dollars," he answered, trembling.
"And you, sir," asked Quiroga, of the other, "how much will you give?"
"I can only give four thousand," said Castro. "I am only a merchant and have no property."
They sent to San Juan for the money, and behold thirty thousand dollars collected for the war at a very small cost. While waiting for the money, Facundo lodged them under a carob-tree, and employed them in making cartridges, paying them two reals a day for their work.
The governor of San Juan, hearing of the efforts made by the family of Carril to collect this ransom, took advantage of the knowledge. As governor of the city he could not exactly shoot his own citizens, though an independent Federal, and neither did he have the power to extort money from the Unitarios. But he ordered all the political prisoners in the gaols to be sent to the camp at Atiles to join the army. The mothers and wives understood what fate they were to expect, and first one, and then another and another, succeeded in scraping together the sums necessary to keep back their sons and husbands from the den of the Tiger. Thus Quiroga governed in San Juan merely by the terror of his name.
When the brothers Aldao were all powerful in Mendoza, and had not left in Rioja one man, old or young, married or single, who was able to carry arms, Facundo transported his head-quarters to San Juan, where there were still many wealthy Unitarios. There he soon ordered six hundred lashes to a citizen noted for his influence, talent, and wealth, and walked himself by the side of the cart which carried his expiring victim through the streets; for Facundo was very careful about this part of his administration; and not at all like Rosas, who, from his private room where he was taking his maté, sent Mazorqueros to execute the atrocities afterward charged upon the federal enthusiasm of the people. Not thinking this example sufficient, Facundo seized upon an old man, whom he accused—or scarcely troubled himself to accuse—of having served as a guide to some fugitives, and had him shot without permitting him to speak a word; for this heaven-sent defender of the faith cared very little whether his victims confessed or not.
Public opinion being thus prepared, there were no sacrifices the city of San Juan was not ready to make for the defense of the Confederation; contributions were given in without remonstrance, and arms appeared as if by magic. The Aldaos triumphed in the incapacity of the Unitarios to violate the treaty of Pilar, and then Quiroga left for Mendoza. There no additional terror was needed, for the daily executions ordered by the monk Aldao had paralyzed the city; but Facundo thought it necessary to justify the terror carried everywhere by his name. Some young men of San Juan had been made prisoners, and these, at least, belonged to him. He asked one of them how many guns he could furnish by the end of four days; the young man answered that if he might have time to send to Chili for them, he would do all he could. Quiroga repeated, "How many can you furnish now?"
"None," was the answer; and the next moment his body was taken away to be buried, six others soon following. The same question was put orally or in writing to the prisoners from Mendoza, and the answers were more or less satisfactory. Among these was a General Alvarado, who was brought before Facundo. "Sit down, General," he said. "How soon can you deliver six thousand dollars for your ransom?"
"Sir, I cannot bring it at all; I have no money."
"But you have friends who would not let you be shot," said Quiroga.
"No, sir; I have none. I was only passing through the province when I was induced by the public wish to take charge of the government."
"Where would you like to go?" continued Quiroga, after a moment of silence.
"Wherever you may order, sir."
"What do you think of San Juan?"
"Just as you please, sir."
"How much money do you need?"
"None, I thank you, sir."
Facundo went to a desk and opening a bag of gold, said, "Take what you need, General."
"Thanks, sir, nothing."
An hour later the carriage of General Alvarado was at his door with his baggage in it, and also General Villafañe, who conducted him to San Juan, and on his arrival there, gave him a hundred ounces of gold from General Quiroga, begging him not to refuse it. This would seem to prove that Quiroga's heart was not entirely dead to noble impressions. Alvarado was an old soldier, a grave and prudent general, who had given him no trouble. He afterward said of him,—"That Alvarado is a good soldier, but he doesn't understand our warfare."
At San Juan they brought before him a Frenchman named Barreau, who had written about him as only a Frenchman can write. Facundo asked him if he was the author of the abusive articles, and was answered in the affirmative.
"Then what do you expect?"
"Death, sir;" said the man; but Quiroga threw him a purse, saying, "There, take that, and go somewhere else to be hung."
At Tucuman, Quiroga one day lay stretched on a bench, when an Andalusian came up and asked for the General.
"He is in there," said Quiroga; "what do you want with him?"
"I have come to pay the four hundred dollars' contribution he has charged upon me,—the fellow gets his living easy."
"Do you know the General, friend?"
"No, and I don't want to know him, the rogue!"
"Come in and take a drink," said Quiroga, but at that moment an aide came up, and began: "General."
"General!" cried the man, opening his eyes, "so you are the General! Ah, General," he continued, falling on his knees, "I am a poor devil,—you wouldn't be the ruin of me, the money is all ready, General,—come, don't be angry, now!"Facundo burst into a loud laugh, told the man to make himself easy, and giving him back the contribution, only took two hundred of it as a loan, which he afterwards faithfully repaid. Two years after this, a paralyzed beggar called out to him in the streets of Buenos Ayres,—
"Good-bye, General, I am the Andalusian of Tucuman, and I'm paralyzed." Facundo gave him six dollars.
These things prove the theory, which the modern drama has exhibited with so much brilliancy, namely, that in the darkest characters of history there will always be found a ray of light, however totally it seems sometimes to vanish.
But let us resume the course of public events. After the solemn inauguration of terror in Mendoza, Facundo retired to Retamo, whither the Aldao brothers had carried a contribution of a hundred thousand dollars extorted from the Unitarios. There they gambled day and night, playing for enormous stakes, until Facundo had won the hundred thousand dollars.
A year passed in preparations for the war, and at the end of 1830 a new and formidable army, composed of divisions recruited in Rioja, San Juan, Mendoza, and San Luis, marched against Cordova. General Paz, desirous of avoiding bloodshed, though sure of winning new laurels should an engagement take place, sent Major Pawnero, an officer of prudence, energy, and sagacity, to meet Quiroga with proposals of peace, and even of alliance. It might be thought that Quiroga would be disposed to accept any reasonable opportunity for adjustment; but the intervention of the Buenos Ayres commission, which had no other object than to prevent any adjustment, and his own pride and presumption on finding himself at the head of a more powerful and better disciplined army than the first, made him reject the peace proposals of the more modest General Paz. Facundo had this time arranged something like a plan for the campaign. Communications established in the Sierra de Cordova had excited the pastoral population to rebellion; General Villafañe approached on the north with the division from Catamarca, while Facundo came up from the south. It was not very difficult for General Paz to see through the designs of Quiroga, and to disappoint them. One night the army disappeared from the immediate neighborhood of Cordova, no one knew where; it had been seen by many persons, but in different places at the same time. If there has ever been in America anything like the complicated strategy of Bonaparte's campaigns in Italy, it was when Paz made forty companies cross the Sierra de Cordova and take a position where they would inevitably intercept all fugitives from a regular battle. The Montonera, paralyzed, surrounded on all sides, fell into the net which had been spread for it. It is not necessary to give the particulars of that memorable battle. General Paz, in his despatch, gave the number of his loss as seventy, for appearance sake, but in fact, he had only lost twelve men in a contest with eight thousand men, and twenty pieces of artillery. A simple maneuvre had defeated the valiant Quiroga; and the army which had cost so many tears and horrors of all kinds, only served to show Facundo's bad management, and to give to Paz several thousand useless prisoners.