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270 rule Mendoza, which had learned by years of oppression to submit to him. Rosas had placed all real power in the hands of Benavides, whose prudence as well as bravery enabled him to keep it. The rivalry between these two commanders was encouraged by Rosas, as it insured his own safety.

Here ends the public career of Don Felix Aldao; the rest of his life was only the gradual decay of a constitution broken by dissipation and the hardships of war, and to the end he was pursued by the scourge of his own conscience and the maledictions of the people.

His harem had been increased by the acquisition of new mistresses; and the immoralities and scandal of his private life formed the common topic of conversation, where the shameful rivalry of these degraded women was openly exposed; and they not only taunted each other with their degradation, but laid violent hands on one another in the streets. And this state of things was the more abominable because the administration of the government was affected by it. Neither justice nor safety even was to be expected for those who should happen to offend the reigning favorite of the monk, and it was quickly known when a change of dynasty had taken place in the seraglio. Ladies of the first families suffered outrageous punishments for not treating these women with respect. One young girl was seated on a mule and whipped through the streets for speaking slightingly of one of the mistresses; and the principal inhabitants of Mendoza were compelled to meet them at a ball, where the young men strove for the honor of dancing with the coarse creature Dolores, who was the favorite at that time. On the death