At
the sight of the hostile vessels the local differences were for the time
being laid aside, and, war vessels being an urgent necessity, public
subscriptions were eagerly forthcoming for the purchase of these.
The small Argentine fleet, when completed, was placed under the orders
of that gallant Irishman, Admiral Brown, and the naval leader lost no
time in forcing his attacks home upon the hostile fleet. Owing to the
fury of these, the efficiency of the blockade was destroyed, although
the Brazilian vessels continued in the neighbourhood for some while.
General Alvear was now appointed commander of the land force operating
against Brazil, and in conjunction with the Uruguayan General,
Lavalleja, he assumed the aggressive, defeated the Imperial army, and
was in turn about to invade the Brazilian province of Rio Grande, when
he found himself obliged to abandon the project owing to the want of
horses from which his army suffered.
In 1827 Rivadavia's Government fell, and after a while Manuel Dorrego, a
gifted soldier and politician, found himself at the head of the State.
Peace was now signed with Brazil, but on terms which the great majority
of the Argentines resented bitterly, and the unrest in the Republic
rapidly came to a head.
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