Tucuman had constituted itself independent of Buenos Ayres. When he went to Buenos Ayres in 1856, all his efforts and writings had for their object the Union. His oration at that time over the ashes of Rivadavia, which he gave at the request of the municipality when they were received from Europe at the port of Buenos Ayres, was an appeal to the national sentiment for this Union. In 1859, the Convention, called at the instigation of himself and friends, met at Buenos Ayres to amend the Constitution, and Colonel Sarmiento proposed such amendments as made it resemble that of the United States, and in the National Convention was chiefly instrumental in ratifying these and bringing about the Union which now exists.
When Governor of San Juan, he labored to amend the State government, but was opposed by his Unitario friends, who feared that he would give the provinces too much power. The disastrous history of the last few years has proved that he was in the right, and his countrymen, by the light of the conflagration of civil war, have at last seen that he was their best guide, and the only prominent man that has clearly mastered the situation. Their wild cry of agony now summons him to their aid.
MARY MANN.
