Rosas, Quiroga, Lopez--the Triumvirate of La Plata--
were bound together, it is true, by a potent tie,--by the strongest,
indeed,--that of self-interest; but as each of the three, and especially
Rosas, was in continual dread lest that consideration in his colleagues
should clash with his own intentions, the presence of Quiroga at Buenos
Ayres was far from satisfactory to the remaining two. His influence over
half a dozen of the despotic governors in the interior was still immense;
the Pampa was his own, after all his defeats; and it was shrewdly
suspected that his indifference to power in La Rioja, and his mysterious
visit to the maritime capital, were indications of a design to seize upon
the government of Buenos Ayres itself. Nor were the actions of Quiroga
suited to remove these apprehensions. The sanguinary despot of the
interior bloomed in the Buenos Ayrean _cafes_ into a profound admirer of
Rivadavia, Lavalle, and Paz, his ancient Unitarian enemies; Buenos Ayres,
the Confederation, he loudly proclaimed, must have a Constitution;
conciliation must supplant the iron-heeled tyranny under which the people
had groaned so long; the very jaguar of the Pampa, said the Porteno wits,
--not yet wholly muzzled by the dread _Mazorca_, or Club, of Rosas,--was
to be stripped of his claws, and made to live on _matagusano_ twigs and
thistles! _Redeunt Saturnia regna!_ The reign of blood, according to
Quiroga, its chief evangelist, was approaching its termination.
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