Extent, Divisions, and General Government of the Provinces of La Plata. Jurisdiction of the old Viceroyalties:--Necessity of dividing and subdividing such vast Governments:--Embarrassments arising out of this necessity. The backwardness in the Political organization of these Provinces, common to all the new Republics of South America; and attributable to the same cause; the Colonial system of the Mother Country. Mistake in comparing the condition of the Creoles with that of the British Colonists of North America. Natural ascendency of Military Power in the new States. Their progress in the last twenty-five years compared with their previous condition. The United Provinces of La Plata, or, as they are sometimes called, the Argentine Republic, comprise, (with the exception of Paraguay and the Banda Oriental, which have become separate and independent states) the whole of that vast space lying between Brazil and the Cordillera of Chile and Peru, and extending from the 22nd to the 41st degree of south latitude. The most southern settlement of the Buenos Ayreans as yet is the little town of Del Carmen, upon the river Negro. The native Indians are in undisturbed possession of all beyond, as far as Cape Horn. Generally speaking, the Republic may be said to be bounded on the north by Bolivia; on the west by Chile; on the east by Paraguay, the Banda Oriental, and the Atlantic Ocean; and on the south by the Indians of Patagonia. Altogether, it contains about 726,000 square miles English, with a population of from 600,000 to 700,000 inhabitants. This vast territory is now subdivided into thirteen Provinces, assuming to govern themselves, to a certain degree, independently of each other; though, for all general and national purposes, confederated by conventional agreements. For want of a more defined National Executive, the Provincial Government of Buenos Ayres is temporarily charged with carrying on the business of the Union with foreign Powers, and with the management of all matters appertaining to the Republic in common. The Executive Power of that Government, as constituted in 1821, is vested in the Governor, or Captain General[6], as he is styled, aided by a Council of ministers appointed by himself--responsible to the junta or legislative Assembly of the Province by whom he is elected. The junta itself consists of forty-four deputies, one-half of whom are annually renewed by popular election. Geographically, these Provinces may be divided into three principal sections:--1st, the Littorine, or eastern; 2nd, the Central, or northern; 3rd, those to the west of Buenos Ayres, commonly called the provinces of Cuyo.