Vicente Sarmiento de Acuña

“ In our career of schoolmaster, we do not remember that the hand of so distinguished a Chilian ever touched our humble one as on that occasion. We had previously been presented to the Seiior General Las Heras, Dr. Ocampo, and other Argentines of importance, who visited Sarmiento. He treated his pupils thus, not because we were individually worthy of the honor, but to give importance to our profession, then humiliated, calumniated, and despised. ”

“ Agitate the waves of a dead sea, whose surface tends to become hardened with the crust of impurities which escape from its depths, the Spanish colony, the tradition of Rosas, cows, cows, cows! Men, people, nation, republic, future!
"They write me from San Juan that on the twenty-fifth of May, if not before, they shall open the Sarmiento School, a continuation and reflection of the impulse given in Buenos Ayres. It is a monumental structure which would be considered a good one in Boston or New York, capacious enough to hold 1,700 children. But I much fear that it is a body without a soul. ”

“ As one who, rising from the lowest station to heights of uncontrolled power, as a representative of a class of rulers unfortunately too common in the republics that descend from Spain, and as a remarkable instance of brutal force and barbaric stubbornness triumphing over reason, science, education, and, in a word, civilization, he is admirably portrayed by Sr. Sarmiento. ”

“ Sarmiento's work is composed in a simple, perspicuous style, without that ambition of rhetorical display too common with his countrymen. He writes with honest candor, and while he does ample justice to the merits and capacity of the conquered races, he notices with indignation the atrocities of the Spaniards and the demoralizing tendency of the Conquest. ”

“ The European expedition was decided upon, and when he took leave of his friend, the latter said to him, "You will return to your own country according to present appearances; if you ever wish to return to Chili, you shall take any place you wish. Undeceive yourself; these enmities which trouble you are wholly upon the surface. No one despises you, many esteem you."
"Such a statesman," to use the words of Señor Sarmiento, in speaking of this true and appreciative friend, whose words on their first meeting were, "Sir, ideas are of no country," "can, like Deucalion, make men out of stones. ”

“ After some patriotic efforts for his country in the wars against the Spaniards in Chili, he had left society and retired to the mountainous region of San Luis, where his nephew, then a boy, followed him, and spent three years in the closest intellectual and affectionate intimacy, studying Latin, and listening to the historical and literary reminiscences of the holy man, who fed the active and open mind of the precocious boy with precious principles and a good store of miscellaneous knowledge. History and the polity of governments grew to be the passion of the young Sarmiento's soul. ”

“ Although a man of decided military ability, as has been proved at various times when patriotism has called him into the field, Colonel Sarmiento is eminently a man of peace, and during a long exile of twenty years, as well as in his subsequent brilliant career as Chief of the Department of Schools, Senator, Minister of State, and Governor of his native province, in his diplomatic missions to Chili, Peru, and the United States, has had but one watchword: "The Education of the People." ”

“ When her home was finished, she married Don José Clemente Sarmiento, my father, a genteel young man of a family which had fallen into decay like her own, and brought to him as a dowry, the chain of privations and miseries in which she passed long years of her life. My father was a man endowed with a thousand good qualities, which balanced others that without being evil, looked in another direction. Like my mother, he had been educated in the rude labors of that epoch, a workman on the paternal farm of La Bebida, a mule-driver in the carrier-trains. ”

“ His Arrival, and Account produc’d the fitting out of other Fleets, and fresh Preparations in Spain, and in the Indies, which extended to the Relief of the remotest Parts. One of them was the Reducing of Ternate, and the sending over one hundred Spanish Families, arm’d, provided and examin’d, as to Quality and Virtue, to be the first Inhabitant of those Desarts upon the Streight. They carry’d Tools, Arms, Instructions, and all Necessaries to fortifie the narrow Parts of it. Sarmiento went as Chief, and Governour of those Dominions. ”

“ In it were little Baskets, Shell-Fish, small Nets, and Bones for Sticking of Fish, like Harping Irons and Scrips full of that Red Earth wherewith they dye their Bodies, instead of Cloaths. This is all the Gayity and Habit they use, instead of the Gold and Silks worn in the Courts of Princes. Sarmiento left the Piragua, and return’d to the Ships with only the Boat, because his Provisions were spent. ”

“ This Action seems to verifie the Cowardice the Authors of Fabulous Books, commonly call’d Romances, ascribe to their Giants. Sarmiento view’d the Land, call’d it Nuestra Senora del Valle, or Our Lady of the Vale, discovering betwixt two spacious Ridges, some delightful Plains, numerous Towns, lofty Buildings, Towers and Pinacles, and to his Thought sumptuous Temples of so Majestick an Appearance, that he scarce believ’d his own Eyes, and judg’d it an imaginary City. ”

“ He was admitted a Jesuit in 1612, and afterwards sent on mission work to Chile and Peru, where he became rector of the college of Cuenca. In 1639 he accompanied Pedro Texiera in his second exploration of the Amazon, in order to take scientific observations, and draw up a report for the Spanish government. The journey lasted ten months; and on the explorer’s arrival in Peru, Acuña prepared his narrative, while awaiting a ship for Europe. ”

“ That of diffusing education among the people, from which nothing has distracted him for thirty years, neither war nor exile, the poverty of his private life, nor the seductions of exalted position, has given a special character to his life. The present minister of the government of Buenos Ayres, speaking of education, in his report to the legislature of this year, says, "We cannot speak of education without naming Colonel Sarmiento;" ”

“ Doubtless a trifle more generosity would have made the conqueror greater, and the odium of the Spanish name less, while it would have assured Spanish domination of that archipelago. The unfortunate king never returned to his own country. Hernando de los Rios says that during Don Pedro de Acuña's life he was well treated, but that during the administration of Don Juan de Silva "I have seen him in a poor lodging where all the rain fell on him, and they were starving him to death." He is described by Argensola as of "robust proportions, and his limbs are well formed. ”

“ He must consult with the viceroy of Nueva España regarding the measures to be taken for the settlement of the islands; and the viceroy has been ordered to aid the governor therein. Acuña is directed to look after the defense of the coasts, and the maintenance of a garrison in Mindanao. He must do what he can to dispense with offices and salaries which are superfluous, for which the king makes various recommendations. The frauds which have been committed in the shipment of goods to Nueva España, and in the payment of duties thereon, must be stopped. ”

“ But they were nearly starved. Among the refugees was the famous El Chacho, who had succeeded Facundo Quiroga in the chieftainship of the peasantry. He had thrown himself on the side of General La Madrid against Rosas, but had contributed not a little to the loss of the battle by his rashness and want of discipline. He did not know, when his life was then saved by the aid of Señor Sarmiento, that twenty years later he and his hordes would be annihilated by that same deliverer. ”

“ In 1841, at the end of the electoral campaign which secured the triumph of their candidate, he took leave of Don Manuel Montt and the editorship of the "Mercurio" and the "Nacional," to return to fight the battles of his country. Montt opposed his intention, assuring him that there was no safety there for him; that the situation of Colonel La Madrid, who was bravely opposing Rosas, was very critical. But, for that very reason, Señor Sarmiento's resolution was irrevocable. ”

“ Sarmiento always treated us as friends, inspiring us with that respectful confidence which makes a superior so dear. He was always ready to favor us and to help us in our misfortunes; he often despoiled himself of his own garments to give them to his pupils, the greater part of whom were poor. ”

“ The troops are coming into the square.—The commandant Espinosa is going to lance Señor Sarmiento!—Save yourself if you can!'
"This time I was equal to the situation. I sent home a boy, wrote to the bishop that he must not be frightened, and that he must try by his presence to save me; but the poor old man did just the contrary; he was frightened, and his legs would not hold him up. The troops came and formed in the square; the boy who stood at the door of the dungeon in the character of a telegraph, communicated to me all the movements. ”

“ Colonel Sarmiento's "Travels in Europe, Algiers, and America," are full of lively pictures of all that is most interesting and instructive to observe in other lands. He studied not only education, but legislation, and all the nations he visited seemed to yield up to his well-prepared inspection the secret of their being for evil or for good. In France he saw and conversed with Thiers, Guizot, and Humboldt, and was made a member of the Historical Society. He visited Spain at the moment when the Duke of Montpensier entered Madrid to marry the Infanta. ”

“ Where the industrial movement is most conspicuous, at this railroad station, the only square called for a living man bears the name of Sarmiento. The 25th of May (the anniversary of their successful battle against Spanish rule) , the 9th of July (their independence day) , Washington, and Lincoln; Moreno and Belgrave (generals of the war of independence) ; Florencio Varela, the first martyr assassinated by Rosas, and Echevarria, the poet, give names to the other squares. ”

“ Notwithstanding all these Tokens, and the Incouragement of humane Curiosity, no Man has ever gone to those Towns, which had such promising Signs of Civility; tho’ those rude Giants did not seem to confirm those Appearances of a well-settled Country. Sarmiento ran along the Streight, Sarmiento comes into the North Sea. never ceasing to sound, and lay it down till he came to a Cape, he call’d, Of the Holy Ghost, from which to that of the Virgin Mary, there are 110 Leagues from the South to the North Sea. ”

“ The motives of the allies in that war were not conquest, for they mutually agreed not to occupy Paraguay, but simply to dethrone the tyrant and restore the country to its enslaved people. [18] The motive of young Captain Sarmiento and his Lieutenant Paz who fell on the same field of battle, and were brought home and buried together in the tomb of the martyred Varela, by request of his sons, was as pure as those which actuated our noblest young men to fight for the liberty of all, as well as in defense of their country. ”

“ Together they founded a college for young ladies, in aid of which project he had written a forcible appeal for the education of women, and of which he was made director—and another for men, which was not allowed to succeed. The college for ladies lasted but two years, but left its mark upon the society of San Juan. A dramatic society and many public amusements that tended to cultivate and improve manners, were among the improvements made by these young men, stimulated by the undying zeal and executive ability of Sarmiento. Here, in the library of Quiroga Rosas, he found Villemain, and Schlegel ”

“ His heart opens with benevolent fulness to the unfortunate native; and his language, while it is not kindled into the religious glow of the missionary, is warmed by a generous ray of philanthropy that embraces the conquered, no less than the conquerors, as his brethren. Notwithstanding the great value of Sarmiento's work for the information it affords of Peru under the Incas, it is but little known, has been rarely consulted by historians, and still remains among the unpublished manuscripts which lie, like uncoined bullion, in the secret chambers of the Escurial. ”

“ Colonel Sarmiento, after an absence of seven years from his country, without any political party, without any pledges of policy given or required, without any of the machinery that is generally used to set in motion such important measures, has by an almost unanimous movement been made the candidate par excellence for the Presidency of the Argentine Republic, and the returns are already known from the province of Buenos Ayres, which contains one third of the population of the whole Republic, and is by far the wealthiest, most cultivated, and most influential part of it. ”

“ Sarmiento has given a very full and interesting account of the singularly humane policy observed by the Incas in their conquests, forming a striking contrast with the usual course of those scourges of mankind, whom mankind are wise enough to requite with higher admiration, even, than it bestows on its benefactors. As Sarmiento, who was President of the Royal Council of the Indies, and came into the country soon after the Conquest, is a high authority, and as his work, lodged in the dark recesses of the Escurial, is almost unknown, I have transferred the whole chapter to Appendix, No. ”