If a man who is poor
commits murder and is taken, he will be imprisoned, and perhaps
even shot; but if he is rich and has friends, he may rely on it no
very severe consequence will ensue. It is curious that the most
respectable inhabitants of the country invariably assist a murderer
to escape: they seem to think that the individual sins against the
government, and not against the people. A traveller has no
protection besides his firearms; and the constant habit of carrying
them is the main check to more frequent robberies.
The character of the higher and more educated classes who reside in
the towns, partakes, but perhaps in a lesser degree, of the good
parts of the Gaucho, but is, I fear, stained by many vices of which
he is free. Sensuality, mockery of all religion, and the grossest
corruption, are far from uncommon. Nearly every public officer can
be bribed. The head man in the post-office sold forged government
franks. The governor and prime minister openly combined to plunder
the State. Justice, where gold came into play, was hardly expected
by any one. I knew an Englishman who went to the Chief Justice (he
told me that, not then understanding the ways of the place, he
trembled as he entered the room), and said, "Sir, I have come to
offer you two hundred (paper) dollars (value about five pounds
sterling) if you will arrest before a certain time a man who has
cheated me.
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