Don Martin Rodriguez is a tall, well-looking man, and a good soldier. Without the possession of any very shining abilities, he has done more for the benefit of the state than any of his predecessors, and retired from office with the esteem of all parties. He was succeeded by Don Gregorio Heras, the present governor, in April, 1824. During his government, Rodriguez owed much to the able administration of Don Bernadino Rivadavia, who may be considered the William Pitt of Buenos Ayres. He entered office, as minister, in 1821, and left it with Señor Rodriguez; the law requiring that ministers should resign, or be re-elected, with the new governor. Mr. R. was strenuously entreated to continue in his situation; but he steadily refused, and his friends deplored the determination. One of the first acts of his administration was to annihilate privateering.[33] By him the revenue was simplified and increased; public plunderers could no longer escape detection; and his firmness awed the disturbers of public peace, and made the province respected by foreigners. In the suppression of the monasteries, he encountered every species of obloquy from a certain class. Now that passion has in some degree subsided, his opponents, and even the priesthood, must allow, that he had no other motive but his country's good; and they cannot deny him the merit of disinterestedness and unshaken resolution. Strangers of all descriptions are grateful to him for the protection and attention he has shewn them, and the encouragement given to their pursuits, which add to the capital and prosperity of the country. The greatest eulogium that can be bestowed upon Mr. Rivadavia's government is a comparison of Buenos Ayres in 1821 and 1824, the periods when he accepted and when he retired from office. His administration forms an æra in the political annals of the state, and will rank him as an able--nay, more--an honest minister. His system, it is said, will be strictly followed by his successors: I trust it may, for the good of their country. [33] A great deal of money was made and lost by speculators, at the time privateering was allowed in Buenos Ayres. The last vessel that sailed was the _Heroine_ (formerly the French _Braak_), commanded by a North American, named Mason, and which was captured by the Portuguese frigate _Perola_. Mason has been confined at Lisbon, more than two years. His wife, an English lady, and large family, reside in Buenos Ayres.