DENNETT, PRINTER, LEATHER LANE, LONDON. LETTERS ON THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF SOUTH AMERICA, WRITTEN DURING A RESIDENCE OF NEARLY SEVEN YEARS IN BUENOS AIRES, CHILE, PERU, AND COLOMBIA. BY JAMES THOMSON. PUBLISHED BY JAMES NISBET, 21, BERNERS STREET, LONDON. Hatchard and Son, Piccadilly; Seeley and Son, Fleet Street; Hamilton, Adams, and Co., and J. Duncan, Paternoster Row; W. Oliphant; Waugh and Innes; and W. Whyte and Co., Edinburgh; M. Ogle; and Chalmers and Collins, Glasgow; R. M. Tims

My Lord , Knowing the warm, solicitude which your Lordship feels in regard to all endeavours, to promote the moral and religious welfare of the inhabitants of South America, I dedicate these Letters to your Lordship; and I beg of you to accept my sincere thanks for your Lordship’s kind permission thus to give your name to the world, in connexion with the best and highest interests of South America. I have the honour to be, My Lord , Your Lordship’s Most obedient Servant, JAMES THOMSON....

Soon after my return to England in 1825, I was solicited by several friends to publish extracts from the letters I had written during my residence in South America. To enable me to do this, I was kindly furnished with these letters by the individuals to whom they were addressed. I have at length attended to these solicitations, with this view of creating a greater interest in this country on behalf of that quarter of the world, and in the expectation that this increased interest will turn out to

Buenos Aires, 5th June, 1820. I cannot be very particular as to all that has occurred to me since my arrival here, the outlines will be sufficient. I arrived on the 6th October, 1818, after a voyage from Liverpool of twelve weeks and three days, and except about a fortnight, was sick all the time. Soon after my arrival, I made proposals to the Government, regarding the introduction of the Lancasterian System of education. I received promises of meeting with every encouragement in this matter, bu