Note II-39 — Chapter II · INDEPENDENCE ACHIEVED. 1818-1821.

In some Indian towns, so-called maestros were salaried from the community funds of the inhabitants. Such maestros could scarcely read and write, and most of them were immoral and given to drunkenness. Of course no good results could be obtained from such teachers. The Spanish córtes in 1813 decreed the adoption of measures for promoting public instruction, and on the 24th of October enacted the establishment of a university in the province. Mazariegos, Mem. Hist. Chiapa, 51-53; Córtes, Diario, 1813, xix. 392; Id., Act. ord., 1813, i. 113, 141.