o
his native plains, to stalk with added haughtiness and new titles to
esteem among his brother Gauchos of La Rioja.

Having in this manner taken a rapid survey of the most salient points in
his private career up to the year 1820, we may pause for a moment, before
studying his public life, to glance at the condition of his native country
in the first decade of its independence. The partial separation from
Spain, which was effected on the 25th May, 1810, was followed by a long
and bloody struggle, in all the southern provinces, between the royal
forces and the adherents of the Provisional Junta. Such framework of
government as had been in existence was practically annihilated, and the
various provinces of the late Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres fell a prey to
the military chieftains who could attract around them the largest number
of Gaucho cavalry,--while civilization, commerce, and every peaceful art,
declined at a rapid rate. No alteration in this state of affairs was
effected by the final Declaration of Independence, made at Tucuman, July
9, 1816; and in 1820, Buenos Ayres, the seat of the government which
claimed to be supreme, was seized by a confederacy of the provincial
chiefs, who secured, by the destruction of the Directorial Government,
complete and unchallenged independence for themselves. During this
anarchical period, the famous Artigas was harrying the Banda Oriental;
Rosas and Lopez were preparing for their blood-stained careers; Bustos,
Ibarra, and a host of other _caudillos_, ruled the interior provinces; and
Juan Facundo Quiroga was raised to irresponsible power.

In his native province of La Rioja the mastery had for many years been
disputed by two powerful houses, the Ocampos and the Davilas, both
descended from noble families in Spain. In the year 1820 the former were
triumphant, and possessed all the authority then wielded in the province.
From them Facundo received the appointment of Sergeant-Major of Militia,
with the powers of _Comandante de Campana_, or District Commandant.

In any other country the nomination to such a post of a man rendered
notorious by his contempt for authority, who already boasted of no less
than thirty murders, and who had voluntarily placed himself in the lowest
ranks of society, would be a thing absolutely incredible; but the Ocampos
probably felt the insecurity of their authority, and were sufficiently
sagacious to attempt, at least, to render that man a useful adherent