ession was followed by war between
Buenos Aires and Brazil, while a large section of the Uruguayans,
headed by Artigas, whose name is famed as the great patriot of the Banda
Oriental, by which name the Republic of Uruguay is still familiarly
known, fought desperately against the Portuguese troops.

Notwithstanding the very real perils which the situation held for the
Spanish-speaking folk in these districts, it was not long before serious
jealousies broke out between the leaders. In the end an open breach
occurred between the Argentine army and a section of the Uruguayans.
Artigas flung his devoted bands of soldiery alternately against the
Brazilians and against the soldiers from Buenos Aires, and the more
peaceful inhabitants of Uruguay watched with dismay the advent of a
period of chaos.

During this period, as has been said, the Argentine statesman,
Rivadavia, was working whole-heartedly towards the intellectual
betterment of his country, and in this he was assisted by Alvear and
others. But the warlike stress of the period cut short the majority of
these endeavours. The Brazilians, anxious to conclude the war, had
brought down their entire fleet to the River Plate, and they were
blockading the entrance to the river and the port of Buenos Aires. 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 b