398 APPENDIX. 



propriety would admit. The eloquence of General Balcarse had the wished- 

 for effect on his military audience : they were proud of his abilities, and not 

 entirely blind to their own merit, as they supposed there was much due to 

 them from their conduct at Cepeda. After some specious promises of pay, 

 &c, officers and soldiers agreed to follow him ; and the next morning he was 

 acknowledged in the Cabildo as captain-general of the province, &c. &c. 

 The Cabildo could not with safety resist Balcarse ; their votes were forced, 

 the hall being filled with officers, and the front of the Cabildo and all parts 

 of the Plaza lined with soldiers, who were ready to act in case of any dif- 

 ficulty arising to their general. 



Saratea, Soler, Bellino, French, Pagola, Martinez, and all the officers of 

 Buenos Ayres, except those of Balcarse's two battalions, went out to Pilar, 

 where Ramirez still remained with two hundred men : I was one amongst 

 those officers also. We remained in Pilar two days, in which time we were 

 joined by a vast number of citizens of Buenos Ayres, who had followed 

 Saratea and his officers, thereby showing their attachment to his government. 



With a body of two hundred soldiers, as many officers, and a motley group 

 of citizens, we commenced our march to Buenos Ayres, and in two days we 

 arrived in the suburbs of the town. That night, Carrera and Ramirez, with 

 a guard of forty men, entered Buenos Ayres, and were immediately joined by 

 the artillery, dragoon, and grenadier regiments. The civicos and the greater 

 part of the citizens joined us in the Corrales de Miserea the same night. 



Balcarse, seeing that all the citizens and soldiers (except his own two bat- 

 talions) had deserted him, shut himself up in the fort : his soldiers, who a 

 few days ago had sworn to support him, now saw it was utterly impracticable 

 to do so, and meditated the surrender of the castle. However, the walls 

 were manned by some parties who kept up a fire on a few soldiers who 

 amused themselves galloping in front of them. Balcarse, Rolon, Vidal, and 

 a few others, escaped by a private door which led to the river ; where they 

 embarked in a boat, first possessing themselves of 14,000 dollars which were 

 in the public coffers, in order to defray their expenses at Monte Video, or 

 wherever their adverse fortune might drive them. 



Soon as the flight of the governor and his principal officers was known in 

 the fort, a flag of truce was sent to the Federal generals, offering to surrender, 

 and requesting pardon, which was granted : the castle gate was thrown open, 

 the troops marched out, and formed in the line of Soler. The government 



