Although Córdoba was part of the United Provinces, its ruling class sympathized with Artigas. Its leaders were cultured and educated people. The presence of a University in the "docta" (the only one located on national soil), as well as other lower-ranking educational institutions, a Bishopric, and a significant commercial movement, gave it the right to aspire to rival Buenos Aires.
Hence Paz explains, referring to the leaders and deputies from Córdoba, that "nevertheless, there were men of good faith and even of merit who supported him – Artigas – because they believed him to be a useful instrument for the reforms they deemed necessary." Such reforms consisted of mitigating or curbing the excessive influence of Buenos Aires centralism, a legacy that had persisted since the days of the viceroyalty and which intensified after the May Revolution. That's why the people from Córdoba formed a strong opposition core to the deputies from the Capital.
However, Paz comments that "undoubtedly – these deputies and leaders – were mistaken, as they later realized and admitted. In this, as generally in all civil discord, it would be difficult to find justice exclusively on one side; usually, both exceed the limits set by fairness and public convenience." Indeed, since the deputies were his fellow provincials, Paz later had the opportunity to learn that they regretted having supported, during the Congress of Tucumán, a destabilizing caudillo who competed with the royalists in attacking the cause of Independence.
Moreover, it would not be surprising if these citizens regretted having trusted, in that circumstance, in Artigas; in view of what came afterward, and the anarchy that would later take hold of our country, at the hands of the caudillos formed in the shadow of the eastern leader.
However, in Tucumán, Paz explains, "the deputies from Córdoba were completely defeated, and... when the Congress, at the end of the same year, decided to move to Buenos Aires, they stayed in their province, separating from their destinies, except for Dr. Salguero de Cabrera," who continued his journey and went on fulfilling his role as deputy in the Capital.
Finally, Paz concludes that this attitude of the deputies from Córdoba, together with the fact that Córdoba was the first Argentine province where the counterrevolution, led by Liniers, prevailed, deepened in the other provinces "a kind of reproach for having believed, without just cause – Córdoba, as – opposed to the system of the revolution, which the others had embraced with such enthusiasm; this reproach was strengthened and increased by its futile opposition in Congress, and the defeat of its deputies."
However, it is appropriate to acknowledge (noblesse oblige), in the deputies from Córdoba, the same patriotism as that of all the other congressmen. When Argentine Independence was debated on July 9, 1816, no opposition was heard from them; instead, they joined, united with their other compatriots, representatives from the other provinces, to approve and acclaim, with one voice, the birth of our Nation.
