BOMB, Don JUAN MANUEL, president of the Argentine Confederation, b. at Buenos Ayres in 1793, descended from an ancient family of time Asturias. Ile entered the army of Buenos Ayres, and in 1829 rose to be governor or capt.gen. of his native province, then in federal union with Entre Rios, Corrientes, and Santa Fe. Iie showed great courage and capacity in subduing the disaffected Indians, and internal peace being thus secured, he turned his attention to the state of the confederation, which, in 1835, was falling to pieces by the feebleness of its governments. A single president was, upon his recommendation, elected for the whole Argentine Confederation, and the choice fell upon Rosas. IIis residence was to be Buenos Ayres, and to this state were intrusted the external relations of the confederation, and the management of the more important functions of the executive. Intestine commotion subsided under his rule, the industrial of the country were developed, and foreign commerce rapidly increased. The other states, however, became jealous of the growth and power of Buenos Ayres, and Rosas was accused of a design to extend and uphold the undue predominance of his state, and to give his native city a monopoly of the trade of the river Plate. In the
execution of this design, he sought to compel Paraguay to join the confederation. This involved Rosas in a war with Brazil, in which his troops were outnumbered, yet he obstinately kept up the struggle for five years. An attack on Montevideo was also rendered necessary by his policy; but England and France interfering for the protection of that city, Rosas was again defeated; yet he managed to resist the allied forces from 1845 to 1850. His rule had by this time become so oppressive and intolerable that the subject states revolted, and selected don J. J. Urquiza as their president and general. A battle ensued at Monte-Caseros, Feb. 3, 1852, when Rosas's forces were put to flight Urquiza entered Buenos Ayres as president of the confederation; and Rosas, who was compelled to flee, obtained it refuge'in England, in country be for the most part resided till his death in March, 1877.