Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Posadas, Gervasio Antonio

POSADAS, Gervasio Antonio, Argentine statesman, b. in Buenos Ayres, 19 June, 1757; d. there, 2 July, 1832. He studied law, and for several years was employed in the Spanish administration, but when independence was proclaimed, 25 May, 1810, he took an active part in the patriotic movement. Soon he became the chief of the Centralization party in opposition to the Federal, and when in 1813 the constituent assembly abolished the executive junta, he was appointed, 26 Jan., 1814, supreme director of the Argentine Republic. He created the provinces of Entrerios, Tucuman, and Salta, and was active in forwarding re-enforcements to the army in the Banda Oriental, and, on 22 June, Montevideo was captured by Gen. Alvear. His conservative ideas caused him to send, in December of that year, a secret mission to Europe, for the purpose of obtaining a protectorate or a monarch from England or some other European nation, as he did not think his country ripe for a republic. His intentions became known, and there were several insurrections. Posadas, not feeling himself strong enough to resist, resigned, 9 Jan., 1815, and after the accession of Rosas and the adoption of the Federal system he was often persecuted.