ther. Independence was to be the fortune of the Spanish Americans, and
a continuance of despotism, for a while, the lot of the Spaniards.

As the region of the viceroyalty of La Plata had been the first to
cast off the authority of the home government, so it was the first to
complete its separation from Spain. Despite the fact that disorder was
rampant everywhere and that most of the local districts could not or
would not send deputies, a congress that assembled at Tucuman voted
on July 9, 1816, to declare the "United Provinces in South America"
independent. Comprehensive though the expression was, it applied only to
the central part of the former viceroyalty, and even there it was little
more than an aspiration. Mistrust of the authorities at Buenos Aires,
insistence upon provincial autonomy, failure to agree upon a particular
kind of republican government, and a lingering inclination to monarchy
made progress toward national unity impossible. In 1819, to be sure, a
constitution was adopted, providing for a centralized government, but in
the country at large it encountered too much resistance from those who
favored a federal government to become effective.

In the Banda Oriental, over most of which Artigas and his horsemen
held sway, chaotic conditions invited aggression from the direction of
Brazil. This East Bank of the Uruguay had long been disputed territory
between Spain and Portugal; and now its definite acquisition by the
latter seemed an easy undertaking. Instead, however, the task turned out
to be a truly formidable one. Montevideo, feebly defended by the forces
of the Government at Buenos Aires, soon capitulated, but four years
elapsed before the rest of the country could be subdued. Artigas fled to
Paraguay, where he fell into the clutches of Francia, never to escape.
In 1821 the Banda Oriental was annexed to Brazil as the Cisplatine
Province.

Over Paraguay that grim and somber potentate, known as "The Supreme
One"--El Supremo--presided with iron hand. In 1817 Francia set up a
despotism unique in the annals of South America. Fearful lest contact
with the outer world might weaken his tenacious grip upon his subjects,
whom he terrorized into obedience, he barred approach to the country and
suffered no one to leave it. He organized and drilled an army obedient
to his will.. When he went forth by day, attended by an escort of
cavalry, the doors and windows of houses had to be kept closed and
no one was allowe