the University of Buenos Ayres, when the call to fight for liberty and his country snatched him from his studies. The motives of the allies in that war were not conquest, for they mutually agreed not to occupy Paraguay, but simply to dethrone the tyrant and restore the country to its enslaved people.[1] The motive of young Captain Sarmiento and his Lieutenant Paz who fell on the same field of battle, and were brought home and buried together in the tomb of the martyred Varela, by request of his sons, was as pure as those which actuated our noblest young men to fight for the liberty of all, as well as in defense of their country.
At the instance of his government, which consisted of his personal as well as political friends, who thought his mind might be temporarily diverted from his sorrows by a change of scene, Colonel Sarmiento visited the French Exposition in 1867, and was present at the awarding of medals to his countrymen for their superior wools.
Such are the principal events in the life of a statesman of South America, of which we have known so little. Perhaps they have many more men of merit, for in his works we meet the names of many who have been distinguished, and of whom he speaks in terms of high respect, such as the Generals of the War of Independence, Pueyrredon, San Martin, and Las Heras, statesmen like Don Manuel Montt, ex-president of Chili, the celebrated litterateur Bello, the virtuous
- ↑ It is not clearly understood in this country that the object of Lopez, tyrant of Paraguay, was not to found or defend a republic, but to found an empire extending over Entrerios, Corxientes, and Uruguay.
