they will be described, in the more advanced stages of this production.

In consequence of the imperfection and frailty of human nature, as well as from the natural tendency of man, to follow the impulse of his own inordinate passions, even under the best institutions, transgressions, both of law and of justice, will sometimes occur. In order, however, to render such deviations from right, as rare as possible, it becomes the object of every good system of policy, as well as the duty of the sovereign or legislative body, by means of precaution and animadversion, not only to enact adequate laws, but, also, to watch carefully over their execution. The wishes and intentions of the first monarchs of Spain, with regard to their distant dominions, were undoubtedly good, and their zeal for justice and equity, sincere and praiseworthy; but what availed it to the Americans, to know that their laws were, at least in theory, good, if they never saw them executed* ? In the distant settlements of every nation, instances of corrupt and arbitrary conduct are on record; but we judge of the excellency of their establishments and regulations, more from their tendency to prevent a recurrence, than from the theoretical and pompous manner in which the rights of the subject are defined; in like manner, as we appreciate the real merits of a first magistrate, by the uprightness of his conduct, and by the impartial and equitable manner, in which he administers justice, more than by his brilliancy of talents.

Necker, in his introduction to the Administration of Finance, observes" that it is necessary to give with reserve, and promise with circumspection; but when once the faith of the prince is pledged, its object ought to be

* The Americans confess many of their laws on paper, to be good, if a law could only be enacted, to make them observed.

punctually fulfilled. Thus, is it ordained by the policy of credit, and by the rules of justice." Enough having been, already adduced, to prove the rights of the Spanish American provinces, in the eye of the law, to be very different from their existing civil and political situation, as described by every author who has written on the subject, it would be both useless and tedious, to trace the gradual stages of those infractions of their laws and rights, which the despotism of the kings of Spain, and the corruption of their ministers, had successively committed. When the minister of France, was penning the above words, it would almost seem, as if he had in view, the promises of the Spanish government, ever ready tooffer but backward to fulfil. Though, individual wrong, could seldom penetrate to the foot of the distant throne, general abuses, did, sometimes, arrest the attention, and bias the mind of the feeling or politic prince, or his minister, and royal orders were sent out to correct the defect complained of. These royal orders and sovereign resolutions, were placed on record, and under formal injunctions, remitted to America; but far from being fulfiiled, by those who ought to have been foremost to give the example of obedience and submission to the king, they laughed at them, and in the term of the country, called them unconsecrated hosts* Hence, originated numerous consequences, not only fatal to the country, but also injurious to the sovereign, who had placed the constituted authorities there, for no other purpose, than to watch over the happiness of his far-removed subjects, and to fulfil his special orders, relating to them. From this inobservance of the laws and royal orders, it resulted to Spanish America;

* Hostias sin consagrar, that is, from being unhallowed, not deserving of notice,

1st. That, arbitrariness, despotism, and terror, were the devices of the Spanish rulers, and, that, the above, were their springs of action.

2nd. That, being the first to infringe the law, they were, also, the first to deserve the punishments prescribed for similar crimes; and, that, their bad example, in this deviation from equity, and from the will of the sovereign, if it did not authorize it, at least, shewed to the American subjects, the road to separate themselves, from a dominion, unjust, rash, odious, and tyrannical.

3d. That, dubious, whether redress had been obtained, and often judging that just remonstrances had been treated with disdain, the part of the community inte rested, attributed to the despotism of the minister, or of government, what was, alone, arbitrary, on the part of its agents abroad.

4th. That, in individual cases, money, humiliations, and often-times meanness, were the only means to obtain justice, and even to see the laws executed; and that, though the Americans were sensible of, and deplored the aggravations under which they laboured, they had no local redress, nor scarcely a distant one, since the minister, who patronized his transatlantic bashaw, was the medium between the king, and the complainant.

5th. That, these mandataries, often became the tools of a corrupt minister, who, in mutual concert, sported with the distress and sufferings of the Spanish Americans, thereby, inducing them to conclude, that promises, and not works, were all that fell to their lot.

6th. That, the colonial chiefs, being Europeans, and biassed by provincial predilections, reserved every thing for their own; and that, it was an usual policy, in order

to secure their power, to encourage divisions between the former and the natives of the country.

7th. That, these chiefs, thereby, became the absolute interpreters of the law, and that they were practically subordinate to no one, since, to no one, had they to render an account.

8th. That, a system of distrust and jealousy, had pervaded every act of the viceregal governments, whose agents, by commanding the armed force, and rendering civil justice subservient to their own will and caprice, had' caused despotism to supplant the liberality of the laws, and to frustrate the intentions of the king, evén, when' they were benign.

From general premises and deductions, like the above," it would, however, be impossible to form an adequate' idea of the principles of the system, by which Spain has' been so long governing her American provinces; which, as before remarked, by its extreme degradation, had at last, even amongst other more liberal nations, acquired the' term colonial; it will, therefore, be requisite to descend to more minute particulars, and to enumerate, with a degree of correctness, the privations, insults, and invasions of right and law, under which the transatlantic natives, have so long laboured. This picture, in which each corresponding shade will appear in lively and distinct colours, will, at the same time, render the preceding del ineation of primitive rights, together with their infraction, more glowing and forcible; and, by thus exhibiting the viceregal despotism, to be more injurious, and more tyrannical, than even the defects of old institu-, tions, in the hands of unprincipled power; the reader will be enabled to judge, correctly, of the situation of the Spanish Americans, at the period, when their Peninsular brethren, heroically rose in arms, for the double purpose

of resisting the insidious invasion of the French, and in order to better their own political and social condition.

§ The various sections of the great continent of Spanish America, were divided into nine, distinct, and isolated. governments, independent of each other, and acting only in concert with the king, and his supreme council of the Indies, with whom their communication was direct. They were given in charge to viceroys and captain generals, named as the representatives of the king; and their command, owing to defects in original institutions, distance, and the various reasons above detailed, was rendered illiberal, oppressive, and improvident. Holding the supreme authority, and concentrating, within themselves, the civil, military, and administrative commands, without any local check to keep them in awe or control, they not only tyrannized over the individual, but the whole of the country under their jurisdiction, was forced to contribute to their emoluments, in order to enable them, when their command had expired,† to return home, with sufficient treasure to gild over their wrongs, and to place them beyond the reach of justice. The laws of the Indies, had, indeed, originally, placed many restrictions, on the chief transatlantic agents, for the purpose of promoting the better administration of government; but it was easy to elude them, and even their public infraction, was treated with impunity. The picture of colonial chiefs, as

*The viceroyalties, are, New Spain, Peru, Buenos Ayres, and Santa Fe de Bogatá. The captain-generalships, are, Guatemala, Caracas, Puerto Rico, Havanah, Chili, and Yucatan, in a military point of view. The Philipine islands in Asia, also constitute a captaingeneralship.

* According to the laws, the period fixed for the command of a viceroy, or captain-general, was five years.