war and its consequent upheavals were
continued. On February 3, General Urquiza, commanding the combined army of
Entre Rios and Brazil, defeated General Rosas at Monte Cazeros, "the gate
of Buenos Ayres." The city capitulated and the civil war seemed ended.
Urquiza announced himself as provisional dictator. On May 31, he was
elected Provisional President, while Vincente Lopez was elected Governor of
Buenos Ayres. One month later, Urquiza, having won over the army by a
sudden _coup d'etat_, seized the reins of government as dictator. His first
measure was to acknowledge the independence of Paraguay. In September,
Urquiza's refusal to recognize the political and commercial pre-eminence of
Buenos Ayres produced another revolt. On September 11, the people of Buenos
Ayres, under the leadership of Bartholomay Mitre, seceded from the
confederacy. Urquiza was compelled to leave Buenos Ayres and proceeded to
Santa Fe, where he was acknowledged as President by the thirteen other
provinces. They bound themselves by a treaty to secure the free navigation
of all rivers flowing into the La Plata. On November 20, the Congress of
the Confederation met at Santa Fe and invested Urquiza with full powers to
suppress the revolution in Buenos Ayres. Urquiza's blockade of the city by
sea led to another revolution within the walls of Buenos Ayres. General
Pintos assumed charge and Urquiza withdrew.

[Illustration: EXECUTION OF SEPOY REBELS
Painted by Verestchagin]

[Sidenote: Death of Gogol]

[Sidenote: "Dead Souls"]

Nicholas Vasilievitch Gogol died on March 4 at Moscow. Born in 1810, at
Soroczince, in the district of Poltava, he began his career as a writer
with poems and a metrical tragedy, written in the dialect of Little Russia.
To this period belongs his ballad "Two Fishes." After travelling in
Germany, he was called to a professorship at the patriotic institute of St.
Petersburg, where he wrote his famous prose romances in Greater Russian
dialect. His "Evenings at a Farm" admitted him to the literary circles of
the capital and brought him the friendship of his fellow poet, Pushkin. He
wrote a series of short stories, treating of life in the Russian provinces,
and among the middle class, which were subsequently published in the
collection of four volumes, entitled "Mirgorod." In 1833, Gogol brought out
his satirical comedy, "The Commissioner," in which he laid bare the
all-pervading corruption of Russian official life. After pro