t get it out,
and I will try and impart the information Murray gave me.

"The river Parana, you see, runs a course of many miles nearly north and
south before it runs into the river Plate. On the east side are the
provinces of Paraguay, Entre Rios, and Banda Oriental, and on the west
and south those of Santa Fe and Buenos Ayres, comprised under the
general name of La Plata. General Rosas wants to unite these provinces
under one confederation, and to make himself dictator or emperor.

"Another party calling themselves Unitarios want to unite them into one
state, and have, for this slight difference of opinion, for several
years done their best to knock each other on the head. His troops
having blockaded Monte Video and captured some French merchantmen, the
French have, therefore, sent a squadron to take satisfaction, and open
up the commerce of the river Plate.

"We are going to join them, as the Buenos Ayrians have treated some of
our merchantmen in the same way, and Rosas dares us to do our worst, and
declares that up the river we shall not go.

"By an old treaty it appears that the English and French governments
having guaranteed the integrity of the Banda Oriental, Rosas was ordered
to withdraw his troops from the territory, and as he refused to do so,
his squadron besieging Monte Video has been taken from him, while the
province of Paraguay, and that of Corrientes, have combined to overthrow
his power. In revenge for this, he has closed the outlets of their
rivers, so as to put an effectual stop to their foreign commerce.

"The Parana, though it looks of no great size on the map, is broad and
deep, and even large vessels may make their way some four or five
hundred miles up it.

"The French squadron and some English ships are already off Monte Video,
and as soon as we and the other vessels join them we are to begin the
ascent of the river. Here is Monte Video, on the northern shore of this
wide river of La Plata, which, however, looks more like a huge gulf than
what we call a river in Europe, and here, some way up on the southern
bank, is Buenos Ayres. There was a fearful ruffian, called Orribe, who
got the upper hand in some of these provinces, and murdered all his
opponents who fell into his power; he therefore got the appropriate name
of the `butcher.'

"Don Rosas, with a devoted army of gauchos, the wild horsemen of the
Pampas, united with him, and the two mild-mannered gentlemen together
endeavour