The influence of France was sovereign. The influence of Guizot and the doctrinaires must be added to that of Lamartine. English ideas also were prevalent; Bentham was the great authority on { 246} political science from the earliest years of the Republic; at his death the Central American Congress, which had followed his teaching, proclaimed a period of mourning. In Colombia General Santander quoted against Bolivar phrases inspired by English radicalism and by Destutt de Tracy. Bentham harshly criticised the _Contrat Social_ of Rousseau, and his pretended "natural rights"; policy he based upon the happiness of the greatest number. Tracy professed a moderate relativism, and utilitarian ideas, like Bentham. Bolivar, unlike these professors of individualism, believed in the benefits of a moral dictatorship.
Bello again represented English thought, not only in his philosophical work, but also in his writings as jurist. He was, like the classic legislators, the creator of the written law. His civil code, promulgated in Chili in 1855, served other nations as a model, and his _Law of Nations_ became the international law of South America. He was born into the world for the purpose of pouring language as well as law into logical moulds. In his legislative work he displayed a severe analysis, a British prudence, and a constant recognition of social realities. He hated the vague and the nebulous, and liked to express his ideas in clear, concrete formulæ; he brought to the solution of social problems a solid common sense.
Alberdi also adopted British methods and ideas. In France he especially admired Guizot, and distrusted Lamartine. He attacked the sterile intellectualism of his fellow-Americans, and wrote in defence of Protestantism, a religion peculiarly appropriate to republics on a Catholic continent. He believed in the English constitutional monarchy, in the benefits of technical schools, and in the disastrous effects of a parasitical scholarship; he preferred strong governments, like that of Chili, and detested demagogues. "The Republic," he wrote, "has been { 247} and is still the bread of Presidents, the trade of soldiers, the industry of lawyers without causes, and journalists without talent; the refuge of the second-rate of every species, and the machine for the amalgamation of all the dross of society." Such was his verdict on the political system of South America.