Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/907

ARGENSON. the famous Treaty of Aix-la-Cliapelle, signed in 1748. Aifrenson, however, did not remain in- active; he introduced reforms in the army, established the Ecole Militaire in 1751, and, by various measures, kept alive the military spirit of the nation. He was an illustrious patron of literature. Diderot and D'Alembert dedicated to him their p;reat Encyclop^die: and to Voltaire, whose fellow-student he had been, he furnished materials for his Sii'Cle de Louis XI^. In 17.t7 he was exiled to his estate, it is supposed by the machinations of Madame Pompadour. On her death he returned to Paris. ARGENSON, (1771-1842). A jirandson of JIarc Pierre d'Argenson. A French soldier and statesman. Though he was an aristocrat by- birth and possessed immense wealth, he embraced the cause of the Revolution and served as Lafa_yette's adjutant till the excesses of 1792 drove him from jiublic life. In 1809, while prefect of Antwerp (then Deux- N6thcs), he took part in the expulsion of the Englisli from Walcheren. In 1813 he resigned rather than unjustly confiscate the property of the mayor at the order of the French ministry. He was elected deputy for Belfort in the Hundred Days, and reelected after the second Restoration. In 1830 he appeared in the Cluimber to represent Strassburg. and in 1832 was one of the members who signed the famous compte rendu. In 1833 he put his name to the manifesto of the "'Society of the Rights of Man." D'Argenson was a man of great charity, a lover of freedom, and fearless in the defense of his principles. ARGENSON, JIarc Een£;, Marquis d' (1652- 1721). A member of an ancient French family possessed of a domain in what is now the De- partment of Indre-et-Loire. Passing through many minor othces, he was made Keeper of the Seal in 1718, and minister of state in 1720. He resigned the same year, and died shortly after. He was a member of the French Academy and an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences. ARGENSON, Ren£ Louis de Voyer, Marquis d' (1094-1757). Minister of foreign affairs for Louis XV. from 1744 to 1747, when he was forced to resign on account of the intrigues of Spain, whose policy he had frustrated in his negotiations with Italy. He was more of a stu- dent and idealist than a diplomat, and his min- istry was not very successful. After his retire- ment he devoted liimself to literature. He was a profound student of political science, and wrote, among other works, Considerations sur le ifouvcrnement nncien et prrxent de la France (Amsterdam. 1764). His journal and memoirs, in nine volumes, were publislicd at Paris. 1861-67. Consult Ogle. The Marriids d'Ari/cnson (Oxford, 1893). AR'GENT (Fr., silver). The metal silver in hcralcliy (q.v.). ARGENTEUIL, Ur'zhiiN'te'y'. A town in the Department of Seine-et-ise. France, twelve miles northwest of Paris (Maj): Paris and vicin- ity). It has manufactures of files, pasteboards. watches, and alcohol. Its priory, now in ruins, was foinuled in the Seventh Century, and was turned by Charlemagne into a ntuinery, of which the famous Heloi'se afterward became abbess. Population, in 1896. 15.126. ARGEN'TEUS CO'DEX. See Ilfilas. ARGENTINA, ar'jwi-te'na: Kimn. pran.;ir'-iii-M te'na. or .R(iENTiNE Repiulic (ollicially, Repvblila Argentina). (From I.at. arfirntiim. silver; cf. the name Rio de la Plata, Span., River of Silver.) A federal republic, next to Brazil the largest State in South America (Map: South America, C 6). In the beginning it was styled "the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata." It is included betw^ecn latitudes 22° and 55° south, longitudes 53° 30' and 73° 30' west, and is bounded on the north by Bolivia and Paraguay; on the east by Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the Atlantic; and on the west by Chile, the watershed indicated liy the highest sunmiits of the Andes separating the two countries. It forms a blunted wedge-shaped area about 2100 miles long, with a width of nearly 1000 miles at the north and less than 200 miles at the Strait of Magellan. A number of islands are inchided; the Falkland Islands, oH' the Atlantic coast, which were at one time claimed by the Republic, are held by Cireat Britain. 'The total area, including eastern Patagonia and part of Tierra del Fuego, is aljout 1,114,000 square miles, divided between fourteen organized Provinces and nine territories. 'Topography. The surface is diversified liy the Andean Cordilleras on the western border, and by the interior highlands; but the greater part of the area is a tlat plain sloping gently toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Andes system in the northwest is a broad plateau, broken into parallel or slightly diverging ridges, which reach well to the east of the Chilean frontier, and occupy large areas in the Provinces of .Jujuy, Salta, Tucuman, Catamarca, Rioja, and San Juan. Above the plateau rise ninuerous crests to a height of over 17,000 feet, attaining extreme elevations in Aconcagua (22,800), Mercedario (22,315), Famatina (about 20,700), and Tupangato (20,286). In the western Province of Mendoza, the Andes contract laterally, and gradually fall otT in height toward the south, where they end in the highlands of Tierra del Fuego. East of the Cordilleras, the most notable elevations are the north and south ridge of the Sierra de Cordoba, on the western boundary of the Province of Cordoba; the Tandil and Ventana Highlands, in the Province of Buenos Ayres; and the continuation of the mountain range of Lower Brazil, in the Territory' of Misiones. 'These independent mountain ranges, however, are of no great areal or topographic importance: the entire region eastward from the base of the Andean Plateau is generally flat, or slightly undulating, and falls gradually from an elevation of about 2000 feet to, or nearly to. the level of the sea. 'That part of the plain north of the Rio Salado (affluent of the Paran:1) is called the "Gran Chaco" (great hunting-ground), and contains extensive forests. Between the Rio Salado and the Rio Negro, in central Argentina, are the characteristic pampas, monotonous stretches of level ground covered with grass during the wet season. Northward the pampas graduate into more forested country, and are also marked by a large interior drainage system and by saline swamps, while to the south they merge into the higher plains or steppes of Patagonia, which are disposed at an elevation ranging from 2000 feet at the base of the Andes to 500 feet or less on the coast. Between the Rio Parana and the Rio Uruguay are the Provinces of Corrientes and Entre Rios, which