The
Southern people have always had a certain kinship with the folks of Latin
America. This has shown itself in
different ways at different times in Southern history. Today, when there is so much animosity
towards the United States because of Washington City’s ridiculous policies in
that part of the world, we hope that by exploring that old kinship, warm ties
between Latin America and Dixie can be renewed.
In
Dixie’s early life, when she was secure as a feudal society, with the
plantations playing the role of Western Europe’s fiefdoms, Southerners tended
to dwell on the virtues of the Spanish and Portuguese knights who settled in
what is now Latin America. In the
Iberian chivalry, they saw patterns worth emulating: martial prowess, a proper veneration of
womankind, fearlessness in dangerous situations, a disregard for one’s life for
the sake of helping another, etc.
William Gilmore Simms of South Carolina (1806-70) illustrates this in
his short story about Juan Ponce de Leon:
His [de Leon’s]
narrative,—the boldness of his achievements, in Old and New Spain alike, have
won for him no small share of that renown which, at one period, the Spanish
cavaliers seemed to have divided among themselves to the exclusion of all other
nations.
. . .
Ponce de Leon, like Basco
Nunez, was rather a better gentleman than the greater number of his
neighbors. He was neither so brutal nor
so reckless as the rest, though quite as great a rogue; and, as a knight of
romance, we find him fulfilling, to the end, all the dues and duties of the
courts and codes of chivalry in its most elevated periods. He was a cavalier after the best fashion, and
did no discredit to his order. He was
brave and daring to a proverb—strong in person, fiery in spirit—true to his
affections—earnest in his devotions—a lover of valorous deeds for valor’s sake,
and fond of the sex, as became a distinguished disciple in the schools of that
gallantry which made woman a goddess or a creature, according to the fancy and
caprice of a most unprincipled order, whom a long period of warfare had made
vicious and licentious to the last degree.
--‘Juan Ponce de Leon’, Tales of the South, Mary Ann Wimsatt
ed., U of S. Car. Press, Columbia, S. Car., 1996, pgs. 32-3.
Southern
praise from this era of the Spanish culture translated to Latin America may
also be found in other sources. Robert
Lewis Dabney, in his lifewrit of one the South’s great heroes, General
Stonewall Jackson, relates Gen Jackson’s experiences in Mexico shortly after
the Mexican-American War had ceased in 1848:
After the quiet
occupation of the city. Major Jackson became a part of the garrison, and
resided there, in a state of pleasant military leisure, until the diplomatists
had matured a peace, and the American army was withdrawn. This season of rest
continued several months. He was one of those who were quartered in the
national palace, . . . His duties were light, and easily despatched in the
early forenoon; the climate was delicious; every object around him was full of
grandeur or interest to his active mind; and the cultivated hospitality of the
Castilians was alluring. It is well known how easily the luxurious society of a
capital can forget national prejudices and humiliations, at the call of social
enjoyment, and learn to consider the accomplished and courteous professional
soldier as no longer an enemy. . . . Immediately after the occupation of the
city, therefore, the places of amusement were re-opened, and frequented by a
mingled crowd of Americans and Mexicans, the ladies walked the streets in
crowds, and the young officers began to cultivate the acquaintance of the most
distinguished families.
To qualify himself
for enjoying this society more freely, Jackson, with a young comrade, addressed
himself to the study of the Spanish language. His active mind was, besides,
incapable of absolute repose, and he wished to improve his leisure by acquiring
knowledge. He was ignorant of Latin, which is not taught at West Point, and the
only grammar of Spanish he could find was written in that ancient tongue. Yet
he bought it, and nothing daunted, set himself to learn the paradigms of the
language from it; and by the help of reading and constant conversation with the
people, became in a few months a good Spanish scholar. It was an amusing trait
of his character that he appeared afterwards proud of this accomplishment, and
fond of exercising it, so far as his modest nature could be said to make any
manifestation of pride. He ever took pleasure in testifying to the cultivation,
hospitality, and flowing courtesy of the Spanish gentry in Mexico; and, like
Napier, among their kindred in their mother-country, acknowledged the
fascination of their accomplished manners, and their noble and sonorous tongue,
and the indescribable grace and beauty of their women. Having formed the acquaintance
of some educated ecclesiastics of the Romish Church (probably of the order of
Canons), he went, by their invitation, to reside with them. lie found their
bachelor abode the perfection of luxurious comfort. Upon awaking in the
morning, the servants brought him, before lie arose from bed, a light repast,
consisting of a few diminutive spiced cakes, and a single cup of that delicious
chocolate which is found only in Spanish houses. He then dressed, went out, and
attended to the drill of his company. Later in the morning, when the sun began
to display his power, he returned to a breakfast of coffee, fruits, and game.
The greater part of the day was then spent in study or visiting; and it closed
with a dinner in which Parisian art vied with the tropical fruits native to the
climate in conferring enjoyment. One family especially among his Spanish
acquaintances extended to him a hospitality for which he was always grateful,
and it possessed the attraction of several charming daughters. He confessed, years
after, that he found it advisable to discontinue his visits there; and when
asked the reason, said with a blush, that he found the fascination of some of
the female charms which he met there was likely to become too strong for his
prudence, unless he escaped them in good time. He declared that if the people
of the city had been equal to their beautiful climate, in integrity and
character, Mexico would have been the most alluring home for him in the world.
Later,
after the great war between the revolutionary Yankee North and the
tradition-minded South, when Southern society was grappling with how to adjust
to the new world it found itself in, when her pre-Modern, agrarian, Christian
worldview was being assaulted by scientism, capitalism, and the like, she began
to view the Latin conquest of South America in a different light: The dissonance between the Christian claims
of the conquerors and their actions became the focus, along with some praise of
the virtues of the native peoples.
Andrew Lytle of Tennessee (1902-95) is a good representative of this
era. His short story ‘Alchemy’ follows a
group of Spanish conquistadors as they move across Peru. He writes,
The next day it was the
same. Not once did that road bend or
turn. I thought of the Holy Empire over
which our Catholic sovereign is lord, with its borders lying uneasy against the
lands of the infidels, how all its kingdoms and principalities for lack of good
roads lie as remote from one another as though divided by water. And then hour by hour as I rode along,
following this smooth and direct route, I asked myself what must these heathen
be to outdo Christendom and bind their provinces so well together. I looked towards the mountains where we were
told they dwelt, and suddenly they seemed more present, more threatening than
the famished sands. . . .
Without warning we walked
into the green fields of Poechos. We
held a mass of Thanksgiving and then took possession. From here we overran Parina, Tangarala,
Piura, and the Chira valley. These valleys
on the banks of the mountain rivers were heavily peopled. There was food and water aplenty, but little
gold. Everywhere we sent foraging
details we found the ground intelligently worked. At regular distances water from the streams
was turned into the fields under laws regulating its distribution. Where it gave out or sank uselessly into the
sand, areas of the desert had been excavated and sunken gardens built up in
circular terraces. The Indians added
fish heads and the droppings of the bird called guano, so that where nature had
left all barren or poor, herbs blossomed and had their season.
Tribute of food and
personal service was laid upon the inhabitants, a measure that worked for the
glory of God and brought the heathen to a knowledge of the true faith. And were we Moriscos to make our own
bread? Soon the Governor began building
a town in Piura. He called it San Miguel
in honor of that saint who had brought him such timely help in the fight with
the islanders of Puna.
--Stories: Alchemy and Others, U of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., 1984,
pgs. 112-3.
As
it was long ago in those days, so it is today.
The modern Yankee American conquistadors, lusting after the oil, gold,
etc. of Venezuela, are overlooking the true riches of agrarian wisdom of the
local peoples for the false and fading riches of a cruel and exploitative
empire.
Wendell
Berry (born 1934), a contemporary Southern writer and farmer from Kentucky,
continues the themes Mr Lytle dwelt upon in some his writings. He is more strident in his denunciations of
Spanish (and other forms of) imperialism and also more generous in his praise
of the traditions of the native Latin American farmers. After staying for a time in Peru to learn
about the ancient farming practices there, he shared some of his reflections in
his essay ‘An Agricultural Journey in Peru’.
A few of them are as follows:
. . .
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England,
South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð,
unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
