[3] In his youth, he was accompanying his father near the post of Arequito, Santa Fe when they were attacked by a raiding party of Ranquel people, but managed to escape at the gallop.

Due to the mediation of Governor Nicasio Oroño, at twelve years old he received a scholarship to continue his initial studies in the National College of Buenos Aires.

Two years later he published in collaboration with the engineer Pedro Pico a report on the pre-Hispanic mound of Campana, Buenos Aires, which started the systematization of archaeological research in the country.

Years later he collected the information obtained, proposing the transfer of the southern border to the Río Negro in his book The Conquest of fifteen thousand leagues, published in 1878.

He wrote the book in a few weeks, at the request of General Julio Argentino Roca, to convince members of Congress to fund the Conquest of the Desert which was already being started by the then minister of war.

[9] Such notion fitted well with the expansionist designs of Nicolás Avellaneda and Julio Argentino Roca for Puelmapu, the Mapuche homeland in the Pampas and northern Patagonia.

During his first term as national deputy Zeballos was the author of numerous initiatives: reform of the Code of Commerce and the law for establishing agricultural colonies, wines, railways, building the Federal University of Rosario, Civil Marriage and many others.

Given the risk that the country was facing from boundary disputes with Chile, the new minister formed a special committee to acquire modern weapons in Europe.

He also performed decisively in the so-called Baltimore Incident, intervening in favor of the United States and against the Chilean government that succeeded the ousted President José Manuel Balmaceda.

The following year he was appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico, but was diverted to the United States, where he met with President Grover Cleveland for settlement of the boundary dispute with Brazil in Misiones Province.

By 1905 Zeballos was again involved in diplomatic affairs after publishing an article entitled "The incident of the border with Chile and the Nueva and Picton Islands", referring to the sovereignty dispute over the Beagle Channel.

In Brazil, Zeballos is generally thought to have planned an attack on that country in case of war, including the military occupation of Rio de Janeiro.

His collected speeches and articles appeared in the Journal of Law, History and Literature between 1908 and 1910 in a work entitled "Diplomacy Disarmed", in which he defended the balance of military forces as a basis for peace and the guarantee of equitable justice in disputes.

Peace is not suicide, peace is life.At that time he also advocated: Necessary reorganization of the railways and other means of transport, to reduce them to a system in which national interests predominate, as the only means of defending the rights of Argentina's production against private interests that are certainly legitimate, but that start to dominate our administrations, the press and political circles to such an extent that there is little hope of controlling them ...He became a national deputy again from 1912 to 1916, and during this period he gave his most notable parliamentary performances.

During a debate on rediscount of bank portfolios, in July 1914, he said: As regards the protection of foreign capital, the country has abdicated its sovereignty and dignity; its sovereignty because we have placed the supreme power to issue currency in the hands of unknown foreigners ... of our dignity because we do not defend ourselves from exploitation by foreign capital, which has grown to form monopolies, so that a few hands manipulate the wealth of Argentina, imposing the voracious law of prices on large and small, on wheat and bread.His parliamentary speech defending the rights of Argentines after the capture of the steamer "President Mitre" by Great Britain in 1915, was incorporated into the Daily Record of the House of Representatives of the United States, for its collection of legal doctrine on Public International Law.

Other projects that had significant impact were related to agriculture, irrigation, sanitary conveniences, meat trade, road construction and growth of shipping under the national flag.

One of the original principles was the introduction of the extraterritoriality of the home in private affairs, a policy that would have the serious consequence of giving foreign companies impunity in Latin America.

Among his numerous unpublished works are the manuscripts of an incomplete history of the War with Paraguay, drawing on official documents and on personal contributions from General Mitre, whom he met weekly for years.