On his arrival at Mendoza, in 1824, he took a farm at a little distance from the city, where he labored with commendable industry and intelligence, and where the only drawback to his happiness was the remembrance of the detested tie which still bound him to the church. In this retirement Aldao might have lived quietly to the end of his days, but unfortunately for himself and his country, echoes of arms and civil war once more resounded throughout the land, and he was drawn into that public life from which he was to escape only by death, loaded with crimes and pursued by endless maledictions.
The elements of destruction existing in the Argentine Republic were then in motion, and were soon to develop the cruel and despotic government which now crushes it. The brilliant but artificial government established by Rivadavia at Buenos Ayres, fascinated its immediate supporters, but provoked jealousies and opposition in the interior; divers ambitions were developing: the Caudillos[1] were soon to appear; parties were just forming; the envy excited by a rich, powerful city in her poorer neighbors, clamored for a confederation; Spanish prejudices caused many men to oppose all reform; the presidential government seemed to many a foreign domination; all was chaos; the clouds preceding the hurricane gathered darkly on the horizon, and as the terror of birds indicates a coming storm, so the general uneasiness of men's minds signified that some mighty commotion was at hand.
Suddenly the storm burst upon San Juan with the cry of "Viva la Religion!" The government of Car-
- ↑ Country chiefs.
