is clearly on its way to destruction. The mass of men are incapable of distinctly comparing one epoch with another; the present moment is the only one embraced by their observation; and for this reason no one has yet observed this destruction and decadence of the cities; just as the visible progress of the people of the interior to total barbarism escapes notice. Buenos Ayres has so many of the elements of European civilization that it will end by educating Rosas and repressing his bloody and barbarous instincts. The high position which he occupies, his relations with European governments, the necessity of respecting strangers and of denying through the press the atrocities he has committed, in order to escape universal reprobation, all combine to check his outrages,—a perceptible advantage.
Four cities have already been annihilated by the rule of the partisan supporters of Rosas: Santa Fé, Santiago del Estero, San Luis, and La Rioja. Santa Fé, situated at the junction of the Paraná and another navigable river, the mouth of which is close by the town, is one of the most favored spots of South America, and yet contains less than two thousand souls; San Luis, the capital of a province with a population of fifty thousand, in which it is the only city, contains less than fifteen hundred.
To make the ruin and decadence of civilization and the rapid progress of barbarism perceptible to the reader, I must select two cities—one already annihilated, the other insensibly proceeding towards barbarism—La Rioja and San Juan. La Rioja was formerly a city of some account, but its own sons would fail to
