The absence of religious fanaticism is further exemplified by the tolerance accorded other religious sects. These, it is true, are but slimly represented. Of the Jewish faith there are probably not two dozen persons in the Republic. The Protestants are almost entirely negroes from the British and former Danish islands and other foreigners, and descendants of the American negroes settled in Santo Domingo. For these the Wesleyan Methodist Church of England maintains a flourishing mission with chapels in Puerto Plata, Samana, and Sanchez and a small branch in Santo Domingo City. The principal chapel is in Puerto Plata, which is also the residence of the minister in charge of the mission. The African Methodist Church also has small stations at Samana and San Pedro de Macoris, though the word "African" does not tend to make the church popular in Santo Domingo. There is further an almost abandoned Baptist mission in Puerto Plata and Monte Cristi. In all these churches, services are generally carried on in the English language alone. In San Francisco de Macoris, Protestant services are conducted in Spanish by devotees who do not seem to be ordained by any particular sect. CHAPTER XIII EDUCATION AND LITERATURE Education in Spanish times.--Work of Hostos.--School organization.--Professional institute.--Primary and secondary education.--Literacy.--Libraries.--Newspapers.--Literature.--Fine Arts. As in other Spanish colonies, it was not the policy of the Spanish government in Santo Domingo to foster popular education. Learning was confined to the clergy and the aristocracy and was imparted only by servants of the church. As early as 1538, the Dominican friars obtained a papal bull for the establishment of a university, and in 1558 the institution known as the University of St. Thomas of Aquino was inaugurated by them in Santo Domingo City, with faculties of medicine, philosophy, theology and law, the principal branch being theology. This university acquired considerable celebrity, but practically disappeared during the colony's decline, being revived by royal decree of May 26, 1747, which gave it the title of Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Domingo. The cession of the island to France and the wars which followed weakened the famous institution, which was definitely closed by the Haitians when they assumed control of the government. The Haitian occupation and the civil disorders of the first forty years of the Republic were not propitious for the spreading of education. Beyond a theological seminary founded in 1848, there were only a few humble public and private schools, leading a precarious existence. An eminent Porto Rican educator, Eugenio M. de Hostos, was responsible for the intellectual renaissance of Santo Domingo. This remarkable man was one of those talented dreamers produced by Latin-America, a lover of the abstract ideal in government, philosophy and pedagogy, erudite, eloquent, with an