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272 was despised, talent persecuted, and ignorance became a title to honor. And these governors did well in acting thus if they desired to remain in favor, for whoever showed any real capacity, or any interest in promoting the public welfare, was soon put out of the way. The Dictator had arisen to power through the barbarism of the people; and the poverty and ignorance of the provinces secured him from all dangerous opposition. The best governed of the cities scarcely perceived the gradual decline, for despotism, even under its most favorable circumstances, is for a people what phthisis is for the body; the patient feels no pain, eats, sleeps, and enjoys himself without care; it is only the physician who sees death surely approaching. Rosas assumed for himself the care of thinking for all; he must be the head, and the governors of the provinces the arms, hands, and feet, to execute his will; each member to be used, according to its capacity, for anything but thought in behalf of the Republic: the construction of the government was to be his own work.

The life of Felix Aldao was now drawing to a close. For a year before his death he was troubled with a cancer on his face, which eat into his nose and eyes, until he became partially blind; while the odor was so offensive that his companions at the card-table could hardly endure it. His temper did not improve with sickness, and he became so suspicious of the physicians who attended him that they were obliged to flee, feeling that their lives were in danger. During this year of illness no one dared to propose a temporary governor, for those unfortunate people had come to believe that the government belonged of right to the caudillos,