THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 



171 



the room)", and said, " Sir, I have come to offer you two hun- 

 dred (paper) dollars (value about five pounds sterling) if 

 you will arrest before a certain time a man who has cheated 

 me. I know it is against the law, but my lawyer (naming 

 him) recommended me to take this step." The Chief Jus- 

 tice smiled acquiescence, thanked him, and the man before 

 night was safe in prison. With this entire want of prin- 

 ciple in many of the leading men, with the country full of 

 ill-paid turbulent officers, the people yet hope that a demo- 

 cratic form of government can succeed! 



On first entering society in these countries, two or three 

 features strike one as particularly remarkable. The polite 

 and dignified manners pervading every rank of life, the 

 excellent taste displayed by the women in their dresses, and 

 the equality amongst all ranks. At the Rio Colorado some 

 men who kept the humblest shops used to dine with Gen- 

 eral Rosas. A son of a major at Bahia Blanca gained his 

 livelihood by making paper cigars, and he wished to accom- 

 pany me, as guide or servant, to Buenos Ayres, but his 

 father objected on the score of the danger alone. Many 

 officers in the army can neither read nor write, yet all meet 

 in society as equals. In Entre Rios, the Sala consisted of 

 only six representatives. One of them kept a common shop, 

 and evidently was not degraded by the office. All this is 

 what would be expected in a new country; nevertheless the 

 absence of gentlemen by profession appears to an English- 

 man something strange. 



When speaking of these countries, the manner in which 

 they have been brought up by their unnatural parent, Spain, 

 should always be borne in mind. On the whole, perhaps, 

 more credit is due for what has been done, than blame for 

 that which may be deficient. It is impossible to doubt but 

 that the extreme liberalism of these countries must ulti- 

 mately lead to good results. The very general toleration of 

 foreign religions, the regard paid to the means of education, 

 the freedom of the press, the facilities offered to all for- 

 eigners, and especially, as I am bound to add, to every one 

 professing the humblest pretensions to science, should be 

 recollected with gratitude by those who have visited Spanish 

 South America. 



