THE BIRTH OF A NATION

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12456, 26 May 1926, Page 11

THE BIRTH OF A NATION

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC YESTERDAY’S ANNIVERSARY. Yesterday morning, in Buenos Aires, the guns saluted the dawn. As the sun rose slowly from tho unruffled River Plato into an unflecked sky, the battery in the Plaza do Mayo shook the city from its slumbers. It was the birthday of a nation, and the patriots rose to hoist the national flag—itself a symbol of the union of sun. fiky. and silver river. And they intoned this verse of their national song: May eternal be the laurels Plucked by heroes from the sky; Crowned by Glorv may wo live. Or swear wo with Glory to die. The “peaceful revolution” of May 26th, 1810, was entirely confined to Buenos Aires. On May 22nd, Admiral Cisneros received a deputation from the citizens, and granted their request to be allowed to assemble publicly to discuss their grievances, and consider the situation in which the River Plate colonies stood under the inept rule of a disorganised Spain. The first thing the citizens did was to call upon tho Viceroy to vacate his office, nnd hand over control to a new Junta. Cisneros may have been surprised, but lie stepped down, nnd out in tho Plaza Victoria (to-day it is the Plaza de Mayo) the crowd broke in lb wild shouts of triumph. Over the plains of the Argentine, where all races meet, where all languages are spoken, and where nl! religions are professed, floats the blue nnd white flag, under whoso folds is to he found a kindly home for the oppressed of the world. Yesterday tho guns re-echoed the roar of the thousand-tongued assemblage that hailed the birth of the Argentine nation. Senor H. Ridone was at. the nffh© of the Consul-General of the Argentine from H) till 12 o’clock yesterday, and received many visitors, who tendered their best wishes to the official representative of the Argentine Republic.