546 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



Ayres, who cannot read and 

 write. Besides the scholars thus 

 instructed, many have private 

 tutors. In addition to all this, I 

 must not omit to mention the 

 military academies supported by 

 government at Buenos Ayres 

 and Tucuman, at which there 

 are a considerable number of 

 cadets. 



There are no prohibited books 

 of any kind ; all ai'e permitted to 

 circulate freely, or to be openly 

 sold in the book stores ; among 

 tliem is the New Testament in 

 Spanish. This alone is a prodi- 

 gious step towards the emanci- 

 pation of their minds from pre- 

 judices. There are sreveral book- 

 stores, whose profits have rapidly 

 increased ; a proof that the 

 number of readers has augmented 

 in the same proportion. There 

 liad been a large importation oi' 

 English books, a language be- 

 coming daily more familiar to 

 them. Eight years ago, the 

 mechanic art of printing was 

 scarcely known in Buenos Ayres; 

 at present there are three print- 

 ing offices, one of them very 

 extensive, containing four presses. 

 The price of printing is, notwith- 

 standing, at least three times 

 higher than in the United States ; 

 but as there is no trade or inter- 

 course with Spain, all school 

 books used in the country, some 

 of them original, are published at 

 Buenos Ayres; the business is, 

 therefore, profitable and rapidly 

 extending. There are maviy 

 political essays, which, instead 

 of being inserted in the news- 

 paper, are published in loose 

 sheets ; there are also original 

 pamphlets, as well as republica- 

 tions of foreign works. The 



constitutions of the United States, 

 and of the different states, toge- 

 ther with a very good history of 

 our country, and many of our 

 most important state papers, are 

 widely circulated. The work of 

 Dean Funes, the venerable histo- 

 rian of the country, comprised in 

 three large octavo volumes, con- 

 sidering the infancy of the typo- 

 graphic art in this part of the 

 world, may be regarded as an 

 imdertaking of some magni- 

 tude. 



There are three weekly jour- 

 nals or newspapers published in 

 the city, which have an extensive 

 circulation through the United 

 Provinces. They all advocate 

 the principles of liberty and 

 republican forms of government, 

 as none other would suit the 

 public taste. The year before 

 last, it is true, one of the papers 

 ventured to advocate the resto- 

 ration of the Incas of Peru, with 

 a limited monarcliy, but it was 

 f)adly received. No proposition 

 for the restoration of hereditary 

 power of any kind, as far as I 

 could learn, will be seriously 

 listened to for a moment by the 

 people. Even the ordinary lan- 

 guage has changed. They speak 

 of " the state," " the people,'' 

 " the public," " country," and 

 use other terms, as in the United 

 States, implying the interest that 

 each man takes in what apper- 

 tains to the community. The- 

 first principle constantly incul- 

 cated is, " that all power right- 

 fully emanates from the people." 

 This, and similar dogmas form a 

 part of the education of the 

 children, taught at the same time 

 with their catechism. It is na- 

 tural that the passion for free go- 

 vernment 



