It is generally accepted that the English invasion of the Río de la Plata in 1806 raised the hopes of several residents of that area who were interested in independence from Spain. Within this framework the author of the present well-documented study has endeavored to show that the “escape” of General William C. Beresford from his porteño captors in 1807 was planned and executed by several determined individuals who still expected British support for their dreams of freedom. Central to this thesis is the role of Martín de Álzaga in the complex affair. As in previous works the author stoutly affirms that the latter aspired to the creation of an independent republic for the Río de la Plata. In this vein he has demonstrated in a fairly convincing manner that the Spanish born alcalde of Buenos Aires made contacts with Beresford’s creole supporters at the time of the latter’s escape to Montevideo only to further his own schemes of independence. However, Beresford could not guarantee what Álzaga sought as a condition of his further cooperation with the British: written assurances from the British government that once the Spanish yoke was removed the English intervention would end.
Although almost obsessed with the role of Martín de Álzaga in the clandestine negotiations of that period, the author does carefully document the part played by Saturnino Rodríguez Peña and a number of other prominent Buenos Aires citizens in the plot that freed General Beresford with their hope of British support for their ambitions for independence. Yet in view of what Ricardo Levene and other traditional Argentine historians have written about these events and also the scarcity of new findings included in this volume, one may wonder whether the author has not labored too hard to shed “new light” on the British invasions of the Río de la Plata.
