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ambition in the respective leaders of the people, having been the basis of their origin. The formation of Juntas, in Spanish America, particularly in one section, has, indeed, opened a tempting and easy path to unprincipled ambition, but this has been an occurrence, both recent and partial; nor could a general principle, be drawn from so limited an instance.

§ The judicious and attentive reader, who has thus far, accompanied me in my subject, will, by this time, be at no loss to judge for himself, of the real origin and causes, as well as of the most material circumstances, of the first dissentions, which arose between European and American Spain. It no longer remains dubious, that they originated in the injudicious and unjust conduct of the Cadiz government. The basis was a want of liberality, accompanied by jealousy, and an avowed spirit of monopoly, which soon assumed the shape of hostility, ill-treatment, and ingratitude. Not that I level these charges against the whole Spanish nation; no, I am well persuaded, that the sensible and impartial part of the community, has long regretted, that equity, disinterestedness, and candour, had not been made the basis of the Spanish American question; and that the means of mutual explanation and conciliation, have been neglected. A large portion of the Spanish people has long lamented, that the Regency of Cadiz, did not adhere to that system of equal political rights, on which the social and relative situation of the Spanish Americans, had been founded; and, from which, they had been, gradually, dragged, by the despotism of the successive monarchs. Unmindful of that great and sound truth, that the real liberty of the subject, as well as public peace and secu

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rity, can only be preserved, by making the authority and administration of the laws, equal, pure, and unbiassed, and, by maintaining the tone and energies of government, the Cadiz Regency sacrificed the rights and welfare of the whole sections of Spanish America, to the monopolies of the Cadiz merchants, and to their incessant and unwearied endeavours to retain an unnatural trade. Having, however, in the course of my observations, refered, in general terms, to this particular point, and asserted, that it was from Cadiz, that issued, the first sparks of that devouring flame, which has, already, overspread the whole of Spanish America, I conceive it my duty to add some explanatory remarks.

Much must the liberal mind regret, that since Cadiz became the seat of government, the influence of the mercantile bodies over its operations, has been not only great, but, also, exercised in the most undue and unbecoming manner. Accustomed to view the commerce of the ultramarine provinces, as an exclusive right and monopoly, belonging to them, and, as it were, vested in them, by charter or compact, every engine was now set to work, in order to preserve it. This injudicious monopoly, by which the inhabitants of Spanish America, had long endured the greatest privations, which had rendered the choicest gifts, nature had so bountifully bestowed on their genial soil and climate, of no value; and which, during the wars with England, had nearly left them without clothing, was the first object, to which the people of the ultramarine provinces, directed their plans of reform. Trade with all powers, was declared free, as soon as ever the new provisional governments, entered an their functions. The news of this resolution, as well

as the creation of Juntas, reached Cadiz, at the same time; and this attempt to throw down old and habitual monopolies, was, by those who had so long founded upon them, their riches, and the means of their elevation, considered as implicating all the crimes of treason, rebellion, and ingratitude. Reform, the restitution of long-invaded rights, and the full establishment of equality, the objects at which the Spanish Americans aimed, in their transformations of government, consequently, found enemies in the commercial bodies of Cadiz, from being opposed to their interests, and from depriving them of those exorbitant gains, which time had rendered habitual; and which they considered themselves entitled to retain, notwithstanding the other party, was thereby sacrificed. The influence of the Cadiz merchants over the members of the Regency, arose out of loans of money, individually advanced, or raised for the general service of government, as well as from personal favours. The tables of the merchants, were surrounded by persons who had offices and influence; all which, aided by intrigue, mercenary pens, and an active press, soon stifled the calls of equity, liberality, and justice; and this most important of all questions, thence became involved in virulence, inveterate opposition, and malignant calumnies. Gradually, a fund of rancour and open animosity was engendered, and soon the measures of government, became identified with the local views and interests of that trading port. The Cadiz columns, became panders to the worst passions of the multitude; and were used as channels to convey to the public, every species of factious misrepresentation. The transactions of government, from that time, were wrapped up in mystery, and

its councils, weak in themselves, were surrounded by falsehood and deception.

No sooner were the governmental changes in the sections of America, known in Cadiz, than a war faction was immediately formed; and instead of the merits of the case, being deliberately examined, open hostility was proclaimed, and the voice of policy, justice, and humanity, became drowned, amidst the shouts of monopoly, and the conflicts of party. This same rancour, extended soon after, to Puerto Rico, Montevideo, Havana, Mexico, &c. whose public papers, together with those of Cadiz, must have often filled their readers, with disgust. The coarsest invectives, that malignity or wickedness could, invent, feelings of personal malice and revenge, in short, every thing that could poison or irritate, has constantly. operated as a bar to hinder the beneficial results that might then have been produced; whereby, those fatal enmities, now so justly to be deplored, have been occasioned. The same want of sincerity, the same arrogant and fulminated threats, and the same misrepresentations of facts, have often struck the unbiassed in Cadiz; whilst balm, conciliation, and redress, have been entirely overlooked. In Cadiz, it has been held as a crime to suppose, that the Spanish Americans had rights, the same. as other men; and the Consulado of Mexico, sought even to divest them of feelings. Their subjection, without being heard, has there been held as an unalienable right; and the rendering of the productions of their soil, not worth collecting, has been, also, considered as an exclusive privilege of that same trading port, as will, hereafter, be more fully shewn. The possession and government of the American provinces, has been con

sidered as devolving on those temporary governments, created in the Peninsula for its defence; and in default of the rightful successors of Charles IV. and during the suspension of the crown functions, the Cadiz merchants have supposed, that the inhabitants of the former, were bound, blindly, to obey those illegitimate governments, in which they had no part, and which were established, without the concurrence of even the people at home.

§ But, even granted, that the Central Junta, and the succeeding Regency, had acquired the right of absolute command, in the Peninsula, and that the want of due election, had been made up, by the tacit consent of the people; their authority must have been founded on some real or supposed constituent principle. If so, the mem bers of such governments, could only carry to their sessions, those same rights and powers, which their constitutents themselves possessed; and these, being no other than their own individual rights and faculties, such as are common to all men, they, of course, could confer no right, title, or power, whatever, to use an imperative voice, out of their own provinces. It would, therefore, be as inconsistent in Juntas of the Peninsula, arrogating to themselves the sovereign and absolute power in the distant provinces, on the real footing on which they stand; as it would for the Junta of Seville, to command within the jurisdiction of Asturias; or for a concentration of all the American Juntas, to exact obedience in the Peninsula. It was a monstruosity in policy, as well as in legislation, for Juntas of detached provinces of the Peninsula, and afterwards a concentration thereof, tó exact obedience of, and treat the sections of Spanish America, as dependencies; and if it is a fact, that there

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