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366 through any opening left in the machinery of government by the omission of some wheel, the purpose of which, through inexperience, had not been appreciated." This doctrine was maintained in all his writings and speeches, and any departure from it in practice has been attended by the same penalties that attached to what he calls "French novelties," current in all parts of South America.

This debate, marked by the conflict of such opposite parties, ideas, and interests, was closed with the proclamation of the Union by Colonel Sarmiento, as a member of the Convention, under the endeared name of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. The measure was ratified by acclamation, all members of the Convention, including the President, rising to their feet, an example followed by the throng of spectators, under the enthusiasm awakened by this sublime movement of generous self-sacrifice. If it is borne in mind that the subsequent Convention of Santa Fé was divided by passions even more highly inflamed, that it ended with a similar scene of acclamation, and that its proceedings are allowed to have been influenced to a still greater degree by the counsels of Colonel Sarmiento, it will certainly be admitted that his invariable ardor in the support of his principles must have been regulated by kindly feeling and by an unusual power of carrying a required point and exercising, at the same time, a conciliatory influence upon opposing minds.

In the interval between these two Conventions, occurred another scene of so noble a character, as to compensate for many others which have disfigured the history of the same period by the hatred and violence