The history of no other Republic immediately following on the period of the Wars of Liberation is quite so complicated as that of Argentina. The circumstances in the River Plate Provinces differed somewhat from those of any other part of Spanish South America. From the outset Argentina loomed more largely in the eye of Europe than did any other of the sister States. No sooner were the ports thrown open by the newly constituted Republics than the foreigners flocked to Argentine soil in numbers which were quite unknown elsewhere. The chief reasons, of course, for this influx were the temperate climate, the now acknowledged riches of the land, and the comparative ease with which access to the country was obtained. Owing to this latter circumstance, Argentina possessed a great advantage over Chile, notwithstanding the peculiarly fine climate of the latter Republic; for the journey over the Andes was strenuous and costly in the extreme, while the voyage from Europe to the western Republic through the Straits of Magellan occupied exactly double the time required to reach Buenos Aires. These strangers, of course, introduced many progressive ideas and new habits and luxuries into the land. In non-political matters a cosmopolitan result was soon evident. At the same time, these foreigners failed to exercise any but a most indirect influence on the internal policy of the nation. This was undoubtedly perfectly correct, but in the face of the curious political situation which prevailed at this period we have the remarkable spectacle of rapid and definite progress in commercial, industrial, and private life, while at the same time the official methods of the public authorities were degenerating with a rapidity that soon brought the circumstances of government almost to a point of actual savagery. In the first instance, men of weight and intellect, such as Rivadavia, Pueyrredon, and their numerous colleagues, had strained every nerve to place this new nation of theirs on a par with those of Europe in matters of intelligence and scientific progress. They had opened colleges, Universities, hospitals, scientific institutions, libraries, and, indeed, had endeavoured to provide the community with every instrument which could further its general progress. Every species of science was encouraged, even to the introduction of the then novel process of vaccination. It was all in vain; the move turned out to be premature. The Spanish policy of the suppression of education and intelligence was now destined to show its baneful results. A wave of ignorance and anarchy swept over the devoted leaders of the revolution, and overwhelmed them completely, and for the time being even their work. For half a century rival chieftains rose up one after the other to contend for power. Many of them employed every conceivable means, whether human or inhuman, to retain it when once they had succeeded in grasping the coveted Dictator's throne.