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 two storeys high, and include many fine specimens of Spanish colonial architecture; but the suburbs consist chiefly of wretched hovels and stretch out over a large area. Among the more notable public buildings are the cathedral and government palace fronting on the Plaza Mayor, the latter conspicuous for its façade of rose-coloured stone; the churches of El Carmen, San Francisco and Guadalupe; the La Paz theatre, mint, penitentiary and the Instituto Cientifico, in which law, medicine and science are taught. San Luis Potosí is an important railway and distributing centre, with a considerable trade in cattle, tallow, wool, hides and minerals. Its proximity to the port of Tampico, with which it was connected by a branch of the Mexican Central railway in 1885, has greatly increased its commercial importance, though in earlier days it was also one of the principal centres of the diligence and pack-train traffic of this part of Mexico. The city has cotton and woollen factories using modern machinery, and the smelting works of the Metallurgica Mexicana company, an American enterprise.

San Luis Potosí was founded in 1586. It was an important centre of colonial administration and played an important part in the civil wars and political disorders following Mexican independence. It was the seat of the Mexican government of Benito Juárez in 1863, but was soon afterwards captured by the French under Bazaine. It was recovered by Juárez in 1867, after the French had retired.

 SAN MARINO, a republic in northern Italy, 14 m. S.W. of Rimini by road. Pop. (1901) about 1600 (town); 9500 (whole territory). It is the smallest republic in the world (32 sq. m. in area). According to tradition, the republic was founded by St Marinus during the persecutions under Diocletian, while his companion, St Leo, founded the village of that name 7 m. to the S.W., with La Rocca its old castle, now a prison, in which the impostor Cagliostro died in 1795. The history of S. Marino begins with the 9th century, the monastery of S. Marino having existed demonstrably since 885. In the 10th century a communal constitution was established. The republic as a rule avoided the faction fights of the middle ages, but joined the Ghibellines and was interdicted by the pope in 1247–1249. After this it was protected by the Montefeltro family, later dukes of Urbino, and the papacy, and successfully resisted the attempts of Sigismondo Malatesta against its liberty. In 1503 it fell into the hands of Caesar Borgia, but soon regained its freedom. Other attacks failed, but civil discords in the meantime increased. Its independence was recognized in 1631 by the papacy. In 1739 Cardinal Alberoni attempted to deprive it of its independence, but this was restored in 1740 and was respected by Napoleon. Garibaldi entered it in 1849, on his retreat from Rome, and there disbanded his army. The town stands on the north end of a precipitous rock (2437 ft.) which bears the name of Monte Titano; each of the three summits is crowned by fortifications—that on the north by a castle, the other two by towers. The arms of the republic are three peaks, each crowned with a tower. There are traces of three different enceintes, of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The chief square, the Pianello, contains the new Palazzo del Governo in the Gothic style (1894) and a statue of Liberty (1876). The principal church (Pieve), in classical style, dates from 1826–1838, and contains the body of St Marinus. The old church, then demolished, is first mentioned in 1113, but was several times restored. S. Francesco has some paintings by Niccolo Alunno of Foligno and other later artists, and a pretty loggia. The museum contains a few pictures of various schools and some Umbrian antiquities. Bartolommeo Borghesi, the epigraphist and numismatist, resided here from 1821 until his death in 1860. The Borgo at the base of the rock is a chiefly commercial village.

The supreme power of the republic resides in the general assembly (Arringo) which meets twice a year. It is governed by two Capitani Reggenti, selected twice a year from the 60 life-members of the Great Council, which is composed of 20 representatives of the nobility, 20 of the landowners and 20 of the citizens. They are assisted by a small committee of 12 of the Great Council. The available armed forces of the republic form a total of about 1200 men, all citizens able to bear arms being technically obliged to do so from the age of 16 to 60 years. San Marino issues its own postage-stamps, and makes thereby a considerable income. It also issues its own copper coinage, which circulates in Italy also; but Italian money is current for the higher values. Most of the republic falls within the diocese of Montefeltro, a small portion within that of Rimini.

 SAN MARTIN, JOSÉ DE (1778–1850), south American soldier and statesman, was born at Yapeyú on the Uruguay river on the 25th of February 1778. His father was a captain in the Spanish army, and young San Martin was taken to Madrid and educated for a military career. He served in the Moorish wars and in the great struggle against Napoleon, and his distinguished conduct at the battle of Baylen brought him the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1812 he offered his services to the government of Buenos Aires in the struggle for the independence of Argentina. He was appointed early in 1814 to the command of the revolutionary army operating against the royalists on the borders of Upper Peru. But he soon resigned his command, realizing that for the permanent success of the revolutionary cause it was necessary first to oust the Spaniards from Chile and then to organize an expedition thence against the stronghold of Spanish power on Peru. With this end in view he secured his appointment to the governorship of the province of Cuyo, bordering on the Chilean Andes, and established himself at Mendoza, where he prepared for the invasion of Chile. Assisted by Bernardo O'Higgins, he rallied the Chilean patriots who had fled across the mountains after their defeat at Rancagua; he enlisted the sympathies of the Argentine government, and after two years succeeded in raising a well-trained army of Chileans and Argentines and in collecting the material resources necessary for a crossing of the Andes. In January 1817 he set out on his enterprise. By the swiftness of his movements and by a clever feint he evaded opposition, and he led his army, of about 3000 infantry and 1000 cavalry, together with artillery and large baggage trains, through a barren and difficult region, and over passes 13,000 ft. above sea-level. The victory of Chacabuco (Feb. 12, 1817) over the royalist army led to the re-establishment of a nationalist government at Santiago under Bernardo O'Higgins, as San Martin himself wished to prepare for the invasion of Peru; but in 1818 he took command of the Chilean forces against a fresh royalist army, and by his victory at the river Maipo in April finally secured the independence of Chile. This left him free to organize the expedition against Peru, and assisted by O'Higgins and the Argentine government, he procured the necessary fleet and the army. He set out in August 1820, landed his forces for a short time at Pisco, where he tried to enter into negotiations with the Viceroy of Lima, and then transported his army with the help of the fleet to a point on the coast a little way north of Lima. Here he spent several months of inaction, hoping that the demonstration of force and the influence of popular feeling would lead to a peaceful withdrawal of the Spaniards. In July 1821 the Spaniards evacuated Lima, San Martin entered the city, proclaimed the independence of Peru and assumed the reins of government with the title of Protector. His position, however, was far from secure. The royalist party, never having been decisively crushed, organized risings in the interior, and San Martin was embarrassed by the jealousy which his authority roused among the patriots, and by the rivalry of Bolivar, who had arrived with an army on the northern frontier of Peru. San Martin resigned his authority on the 20th of September 1822 and left the country. He spent a short time in Chile and in Argentina, but his many enemies had embittered popular feeling against him, and constant attempts were made to involve him in political intrigues. Unable to live a peaceful private life, he was compelled to exile himself in Europe, where he lived, often in great poverty, till his death at Boulogne on the 17th of August 1850.

San Martin did more than any man for the cause of independence in the Argentine, Chile and Peru. He was not only an able soldier; in