n the period of
the Wars of Liberation is quite so complicated as that of Argentina. The
circumstances in the River Plate Provinces differed somewhat from those
of any other part of Spanish South America. From the outset Argentina
loomed more largely in the eye of Europe than did any other of the
sister States. No sooner were the ports thrown open by the newly
constituted Republics than the foreigners flocked to Argentine soil in
numbers which were quite unknown elsewhere. The chief reasons, of
course, for this influx were the temperate climate, the now acknowledged
riches of the land, and the comparative ease with which access to the
country was obtained.

Owing to this latter circumstance, Argentina possessed a great advantage
over Chile, notwithstanding the peculiarly fine climate of the latter
Republic; for the journey over the Andes was strenuous and costly in the
extreme, while the voyage from Europe to the western Republic through
the Straits of Magellan occupied exactly double the time required to
reach Buenos Aires.

These strangers, of course, introduced many progressive ideas and new
habits and luxuries into the land. In non-political matters a
cosmopolitan result was soon evident. At the same time, these foreigners
failed to exercise any but a most indirect influence on the internal
policy of the nation. This was undoubtedly perfectly correct, but in the
face of the curious political situation which prevailed at this period
we have the remarkable spectacle of rapid and definite progress in
commercial, industrial, and private life, while at the same time the
official methods of the public authorities were degenerating with a
rapidity that soon brought the circumstances of government almost to a
point of actual savagery.

In the first instance, men of weight and intellect, such as Rivadavia,
Pueyrredon, and their numerous colleagues, had strained every nerve to
place this new nation of theirs on a par with those of Europe in matters
of intelligence and scientific progress. They had opened colleges,
Universities, hospitals, scientific institutions, libraries, and,
indeed, had endeavoured to provide the community with every instrument
which could further its general progress. Every species of science was
encouraged, even to the introduction of the then novel process of
vaccination.

It was all in vain; the move turned out to be premature. The Spanish
policy of the suppression of education and intelligence w