over Lavalle, threw the bloody heads of three young men into the hall where their families were dancing. This Barcena was the leader of the band of Mazorqueros which went with the army sent to Cordova in persecution of Lavalle, a regularly organized band, each Mazorquero wearing at his side a knife with a blade curved like a small cimeter, which was invented by Rosas himself for the purpose of beheading men dexterously.
What motive could Quiroga have had for these atrocities? He is said to have told Oro at Mendoza that his only object was to inspire terror. And again, during the continual assassinations of wretched peasants, on his way to the head-quarters at Atiles, one of the Villafañes said to him in a tone of fear and compassion, "Is it not enough, General?" "Don't be a fool," Quiroga answered; "how else can I establish my power!" This was his one method,—terror with the citizen, that he might fly and leave his fortune; terror with the gaucho, to make him support a cause in which he had no personal interest. With him terror took the place of administrative power, enthusiasm, tactics, everything. And it cannot be denied that terror, as a means of government, produces much larger results than patriotism or liberty. Russia has made use of it from the time of Ivan, and has conquered the most barbarous nations; the bandits of the forest obey the chief, wielding this power which controls the fiercest natures. It is true that it degrades men, impoverishes them, and takes from them all elasticity of mind, but it extorts more from a state in one day than it would have given in ten years; and what does the rest matter
