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Preface.
xix

In the mean time, the province of Montevideo had rebelled, and the place had been taken by General Alvear on the 23d of June, 1814. General Artigas, one of the country commandants, who cooperated in the siege, had early given tokens of insubordination, and General Alvear undertook to pursue him with the forces that had occupied Montevideo. Master of the Banda Oriental, and of all its resources, Artigas displayed his resentment towards Buenos Ayres. He not only took the Oriental province from the Argentine community, but his personal influence and that of his system, extended over Corrientes, Entrerios, Santa Fe, and Cordova. No treaties were accepted by either side. One of the effects of his influence was the invasion of the province of Buenos Ayres by the troops of Santa Fe and Entrerios, and in February 1820, the Director Rondeau was beaten at La Cañada de Cepeda. The conquerors entered Buenos Ayres with their troops, dissolved the Congress and the Directory, and reduced its power to Buenos Ayres alone. Some authors, in speaking of the revolution of 1810, have attributed to the landed proprietors considered as a class, an influence, an ambition, and political views which never had an existence. They declared them-

    visited him in his self-imposed exile at Grandbourg in France, in 1846. Party passions had obscured the subject till that revelation was made from so authentic a source.