and his most casual remark uttered in his own fort, was enough to affect the government, and often became an absolute law. And this lasted for ten years, until constant intoxication brought his life to an end.
In 1832, Rosas prepared an expedition to the south, and invited the caudillos of the interior to cooperate with him for the protection of their respective frontiers, hoping by this means to make the pretext of an attack on the Indians cover an extensive military combination which he meant to use for his own elevation to power. Don Felix induced one tribe to attack another tribe, and deliver them prisoners to his troops; both tribes, however, united while on the way, and after putting to death sixty of the Mendoza soldiers, fled to the desert. Aldao followed and exterminated them, and this was all that was accomplished by the famous expedition; but Aldao made by it a valuable acquisition. Among the soldiers of his division was one Rodriguez, a man of great bravery, whom he took under his especial protection, and promoted to the command of a squadron. The monk was then becoming stout, incapable of action, and given up to intoxication, so that he would have been unable to sustain his power and reputation but for this Rodriguez, who, by proxy, still maintained the terror of his name.
Rosas having obtained absolute power in 1833, carefully studied the capacities of the various caudillos of the interior, that he might quietly bring them under submission; and this conquest of the provinces is one of the greatest acts of diplomacy accomplished by him. Soon afterwards he won over the auxiliaries of San Juan; had Quiroga put to death; got rid of his own
