as now destined
to show its baneful results. A wave of ignorance and anarchy swept over
the devoted leaders of the revolution, and overwhelmed them completely,
and for the time being even their work. For half a century rival
chieftains rose up one after the other to contend for power. Many of
them employed every conceivable means, whether human or inhuman, to
retain it when once they had succeeded in grasping the coveted
Dictator's throne.

So numerous were these men, and so extensive is the catalogue of their
callous doings, that it is impossible to refer to them in any other but
the briefest fashion here. So extensive, moreover, was the new Republic
of Argentina--or, rather, at that time the collection of frequently
antagonistic provinces which then occupied the area now filled by the
modern Republic--that a single ruler seldom succeeded in maintaining his
authority from frontier to frontier.

In general, the main strife may be said to have been waged between the
provinces of the littoral and those of the Far West. Of all the men who
fought on either side, the greatest leader was, of course, Juan Manuel
Rosas. This astonishing being, as a matter of fact, was by no means one
of the first of these tyrannical Dictators. He was, on the contrary, the
last, so far as Argentina is concerned, but his deeds continued to
savour of an early period to the end.

Although at the time of his advent to power Rosas was merely one of a
type, and found himself surrounded by a number of rival leaders, none
proved himself a match for his extraordinary astuteness and influence
over his neighbours. The Dictator stood out head and shoulders above any
other Argentine despot of his kind. Certainly far more has been written
concerning Rosas than concerning any other South American ruler of his
period--that is to say, so far as Spanish literature is concerned--for,
although his rule attracted a very great deal of attention in England
and elsewhere in Europe for as long as it lasted, the topic appears to
have been allowed to slumber since his banishment and death.

To revert, however, to the first period of the actual independence of
Argentina. This was marked by almost continual warfare on the shores of
the River Plate. Brazil, taking advantage of the confusion in the
territories of her neighbours, had sent her armies to the south, and had
occupied Uruguay, thus extending her frontiers to the long-coveted
shores of the River Plate. This aggr