114 THE MISTLETOE SCHOONER OF WAR. pidly swayed by these feelings, he refused protection to British vessels attempting to go to Buenos Ayres, thus authorizing, in fact, the blockade. Elliot's conduct created great disgust in Buenos Ayres, and the Junta appealed to Lord Strangford, at Rio de Janeiro. The result was, Admiral De Courcy determined to go in person to the River Plate, in order to exact from the Spanish authorities an absolute non-interference with British vessels bound to Buenos Ayres. He sent, as an avant-courier, the little schooner Mistletoe, commanded by Captain (then lieutenant) Ramsay; and the resolution and energy of this officer filled the lively Buenos Ayreans with admiration of his conduct. The case was this:-On Captain Ramsay's arrival off Buenos Ayres, he found two English brigs detained by the Spanish officer commanding the blockading squadron. Hereupon he sailed his little schooner right up to the superb Spanish frigate Mercurio, already mentioned, and anchored alongside of her. He then sent his first officer on board of the Mercury with a civil message to the captain, that if he did not, within one hour, deliver up the two English vessels, the Mistletoe would pour CAPTAIN (THEN LIEUTENANT) RAMSAY. 115 a broadside into the Mercury. The captain of the latter fell into a fit of laughter at this threat, and told the officer who had been sent to him to go back to Lieutenant Ramsay, and make him understand that with one gun he could blow the Mistletoe out of the water. The officer quickly returned to present Lieutenant Ramsay's compliments, and to say that he was quite aware of the truth of the Spanish captain's allegation; but that the sinking of the Mistletoe having nothing to do with his (Lieutenant Ramsay's) orders, he should certainly give the Mercury a broadside at the end of the hour, if the vessels were not delivered up to him. The captain of the Mercury hereupon considered that if he fired even on a schooner belonging to Great Britain, he might involve the two countries in war. He preferred, in this view, giving up the vessels, and Lieutenant Ramsay took them in triumph into the balizas or inner roads of Buenos Ayres. An amusing part of the matter was, that the editor of the Buenos Ayres Gazette, who was no other than Dr. Moreno, the secretary of the Junta, while lavishing his praises on the gallant bearing of Lieutenant Ramsay, designated his vessel as one "so small that it required a glass to see her on the 116 CAPTAIN (THEN LIEUTENANT) RAMSAY. face of the waters," thereby enhancing, as he thought, the merit of her commander, and stating what was almost literally true into the bargain. But Lieutenant Ramsay, who was a little man himself, though brave as a lion, took this account of his vessel as a grievous insult; and though when he landed, his almost affectionate reception by all classes both pleased and flattered him, he never entirely forgave the government for their contemptuous mode of speaking of a British vessel of war. Admiral de Courcy some time after followed; approved of what had been done; and the Junta had, in the end, their revenge on Captain Elliot. The English trade, we may mention here, had already grown to such an extent that, in October, we find no less than sixty-eight principal British merchants subscribing liberally to the "National Library," an institution which owed its birth to Drs. Moreno and Chorroarrin. The municipal body, one half of which consisted, as we have said, of Spaniards, continuing, to a scandalous extent, to plot and intrigue against the new order of things, the Junta suddenly removed the whole of the members in October, and replaced them with known and decided patriots. Don CORNELIO DE SAAVEDRA. 117 Martin de Alzaga, and one or two of his intimates, were the main-springs of these sinister attempts against the authority of the Junta. But the energies of this latter body were about to be paralyzed, during the remainder of its existence, by intrigues which led to the adoption of a very singular course at the end of the first and eventful year of the revolution. Saavedra, as president of the Junta, like all other presidents and chairmen, was not only very jealous of his supremacy, but he used constant endeavours to widen his prerogatives, and render more and more absolute his authority. The other members of the Junta at first remonstrated in private; but at last, on the 6th of December, we find them issuing a well-written" Order of the day," which is followed by a decree enacting that, "from this day forward there shall be absolute, perfect, and identical equality between the President and the other members of the Junta without further difference than the numerical and gradual order of the seats;" and neither President nor members were to have any public representation, escort, guard, or other distinction beyond that of the citizens at large. The document states that the President's" moderation was very much morti fied" by the honours at first decreed to his station; and that his " probity had been offended" by his health having been publicly drunk as that of "Our emperor." But we run little risk in saying, that the statements of the order of the day and the feelings of General Saavedra ran in two distinct and opposite currents. The President and his patrician friends finding themselves thus assailed by the pure republican party, Dr. Moreno being at the head of it, they determined to embarrass the Junta in an extraordinary way. Deputies from the provinces were beginning to arrive, having been convoked by the Junta, to form the foundation of a general congress; and thirteen members had been elected in all. Saavedra put it into the heads of these doctores that the Junta had invited them to form part of the executive, and not to restrict them to mere legislative functions. The doctores very much relished the new reading of their powers. A solemn meeting of them all and of the Junta was held; and, by a great plurality of votes, the motion was carried, “That the members of congress be incorporated with, and do form a part of, the executive government."* * See Appendix. |