heard such eloquent speeches and such elevated sentiments, turn from the record of those times and flee abashed at the profanation of that august sanctuary by their diatribes!
The judicial chairs and the administrative offices were then occupied by educated men, and a sufficient number remained to plead the causes of others.
The elegance of manners, the refinement of customs, the cultivation of literature, the great commercial interests, the public spirit which animated the people,—all announced to foreigners the existence of a society of culture advancing rapidly to the attainment of a distinguished rank, and justified the following estimate of San Juan given to America and Europe through the London press:—
"They are showing the strongest inclination to advance in civilization, and this city is regarded at present as only second to Buenos Ayres in the progress of social reform. Various institutions lately established in Buenos Ayres have been adopted at San Juan on a scale proportionate to its size, and the people have made extraordinary progress in ecclesiastical reform, incorporating all the monastic orders with the secular clergy, and suppressing the convents of the latter."
But the state of primary education will give the best idea of the culture of the period we are considering. No portion of the Argentine Republic has been more distinguished by its anxiety for the diffusion of knowledge than San Juan, nor have more complete results been obtained elsewhere. The government, not satisfied with the capacity of the men of the province for the fulfillment of so important a duty, sent in 1815 for a person uniting competent learning and high morals
