Page:Civilization and barbarism (1868).djvu/404

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

In October, 1852, he wrote a pamphlet upon San Juan, its men, and its acts in the regeneration of the Republic; the restoration of Benavides and the peoples' conduct towards him. When elected by San Juan Deputy to the National Congress, which office he declined, he published a letter to General Urquiza giving his reasons, and subsequently a pamphlet entitled "Convention of Sanatuolas de los Arreyos," in which he treats of the condition of the government in the Republic and the reactionary policy of Buenos Ayres. In 1853 he began to publish the second volume of "The Cronica," a political and literary periodical, and also his "Commentary on the Constitution of the Argentine Republic," with numerous documents illustrative of the text. In the following year he published a letter to the electors of Buenos Ayres, who had chosen him for their deputy, an appointment which he did not accept.

He finally took up his residence in Buenos Ayres as a private citizen. In that year he was nominated Deputy to Congress from Tucuman, but did not accept the nomination for some political reasons. In 1857 he solicited and obtained the direction of the department of schools, and was also made Councillor of the Municipality of Buenos Ayres, Durqué being still President. The difficulties which he encountered in carrying out his purpose of introducing the North American system of common schools into Buenos Ayres as a starting-point, are described in a very graphic and lively manner in a letter to the Señora Juana Manso, too long for insertion here. Three ministries went out, which made the acceptance of his bill the sine qua non of