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impolitic privations, were so glaring to Spaniards themselves, that Dn. Malchor Macanaz, in his celebrated memorial, presented to Philip V. uses the following words. "As the natives of those, your Majesty's dominions, are equally deserving of filling the principal offices of their own country, it appears reasonable, that they should not be divested of all management in their own homes. I am fully persuaded, that in those countries, there are many discontented persons, not because they are under the control of Spain; but because they are cast down, and tyrannized by the very persons, who are sent over to exercise the duties of the judicature. Let your Majesty give these offices to subjects of that country, and by this means, disturbances will be avoided."* Other similar sentiments and avowals, from many enlightened Spaniards, might be quoted.

· Thus, from the time of Phillip V, does it appear, that rapacious, and often, immoral Peninsulars, held every office of profit and distinction, and little else was left to the excluded natives, but ill treatment, continued insults and outrages, to such an extreme, that even, lately, the Mexico Consulado, or Board of Trade, composed of European members, in its solemn deliberations, manifested to the Cortes, that the Americans were a race of monkies, filled with vice and ignorance, and antomata, unworthy of representing, or being represented. The debates which took place in the Cortes, on the receipt of this singular communication, are to be found in its proceedings for Sept. 1811'; yet similar, if not greater insults, might be quoted from the Cadiz prints.

Bribery and corruption were the springs by which * Semanario Erudito, tom. 7.

every thing was moved; monopolies of various kinds, and in the most essential articles, absorbed the industry of the lower classes; and restrictions of trade and prohibitory systems, rendered every thing stagnant, and left the choicest productions of no value. Besides the onerous monopolies, which existed in favour of the crown, and of individuals, the liberty of the press was unknown, the planting of the vine, and olive, was forbidden in most sections,* generally the distilling of spirits, and also the growing of hemp and flax. It was unlawful to whale, or fish for cod, as well as to trade between the respective provinces,† not only in articles brought from Spain, but even in those of their own growth. Coasting trade was not allowed, intercourse with foreigners, was pronounced a capital crime, and punished as such.

Estrada observes, that the Spanish government, in order to hold the Americans in greater subjection to its own dominion, conceived that the best means, was not to permit them to manufacture any thing made in Spain, nor to grow, on their soil, any of her productions. Hence they were forbidden to rival the wine, brandies, oil, rai

* "Quedando expresamente prohibido para la Nueva Espana, Terra-firme y Santa Fe, los vinos, aguardientes, vinagre, aceyte de olivas, pasas y almendras del Peru y Chile, y privados rigorosamente en todas partes, los plantios de olivares y vinas." Vide Gazeta de Mexico, 6 de octubre 1304. also, Censor Extraordinario, No. 59. Cadiz, 1812.

+ That this singular prohibition may not appear dubious, I quote the letter of the law: "Ordenamos y mandamos á los Vireyes del Peru y Nueva Espana, que infaliblemente prohiban y estorben este comercio y trafico entre ambos reynos, por todos los caminos y me dios que fuere posible." Recop. Leyes Ind. Ley 79 Tit. 45,

Examen imparcial, fol. 149.

sins, almonds, silks, cloths, glass, &c. of the mother country, on whom they became dependent for supplies of these articles. They were not suffered to work the quicksilver mines, with which their country abounds; and the king preferred to expend a considerable sum, annually, in the port of Trieste, than that the Americans should not be beholden to him, for the requisites to amalgamate their ores. Another unjust and impolitic principle in the colonial policyof Spain, was, that one section, was to be sacrificed to the advantage of another. In 1792, the cabildo of Lima, petitioned the court to prohibit the planting of the sugar cane in Chili, in order to render the latter dependent on them for this article, and it was granted. Chili was also refused permission to grow tobacco, almost, now, become a necessary of life amongst all Spaniards, and was thus forced to draw its supplies from the Peruvian district of Lambayque, though its quality was the very worst. Acapulco and Mexico, were not suffered to take the wine, olives, raisins, and almonds of Chili; and in many other instances, unequal and disproportioned shackles, were placed between the respective provinces. In Chili, a company was established to catch seals, which abound on the coast and contiguous islands, but the court refused its sanction, notwithstanding the subjects of the United States of North America, were allowed to whale and seal on all the shores of the South Seas. The great restrictions on the importations of books, were, also, ex

+ It was, only, on the other side of Cape Horn, that wine, oil, brandies, raisins, and almonds, were allowed to be raised, though every other section is congenial te their growth. This was in consequence of the length of the voyage, for articles of so heavy a nature.

tremely grievous; for, if any thing besides prayer-books and catechisms,escaped the vigilance of the custom house searcher, it was difficult to elude the fangs of the Inquition, on whose expurgatory list, were to be found, the best and most useful authors in modern languages. It even entered into the colonial policy of Spain, to hide from the Americans, the real and faithful details of the primitive conquest of their country; so much so, that the works of Las Casas, who was, at the same time, venerated as a saint, were forbidden by Government, because they constituted a true and just picture of the horrors and cruelties, committed by the first conquerors against the inoffensive Indians, and enumerated the ravages and destruction of the primitive towns, with all the ardour of a christian, and all the truth of an eye witness. Epic poems, and romances, in praise of the first conquerors, like the history of Solis, were, alone, suffered to be read, and in which the ignorance and vices of the defenceless natives, were alleged, as a plea for the unheard of butcheries, which so soon depeopled the lately discovered sections of the new world. It is, only, when Spanish America is freed from base despotic power, and the freedom of the press, established, that the occurrences of the primitive conquests, will be fairly known to the world. The friend of humanity, has still many fresh tears to shed over the more faithful picture of the first ravages; and his heart will, often yet, beat with sympathy, at the untold degradation heaped on the Indians, for more than three hundred years.

By being deprived of foreign trade, the Spanish Americans, were obliged to pay for their clothing, three times dearer than it was worth; and as there was no competi

tion, and most of their territorial productions were not consumed in the Peninsula, they were under the necessity of selling at low prices. During the wars, in which Spain has been engaged, the evils of this exclusion, have been incalculable, and, amongst other things, so great has been the want of iron, so necessary for the implements of agriculture, that, in Quito, according to Ulloa, it has sold for one hundred dollars, per hundred pounds weight, and steel for one hundred and fifty ditto. Ou rown navigation act, by which we hold an exclusive trade, has been quoted as an excuse for Spain, and as a correct example, how all parent states ought to act to their colonies; but even, if such was the relative situation of the Spanish American provinces, (and sufficient concurrent testimony, has been brought forward, to prove the contrary) the adoption of the same law, on the part of Spain, would not either be just or political, at the present moment, from her neither having ships, credit, capital, nor manufactures. British settlements are restricted to our own ships, because they can always have them cheaper, and better protected than others; and because this is one of the clauses of their original compact. Were the impossible case, however, ever to occur, and by any unforeseen event, we were to be deprived of a sufficient number, for colonial purposes, it would be both cruel and unjust, that the productionsof our planters, should rot on their farms, for want of conveyance home. When Lord Chatham asserted, that not a nail ought to be manufactured in our late North American settlements, it would have been most tyrannical, if this article had not been manufactured in England, and that at a cheaper rate, than any where else.

Patriotic societies, which had for object, beneficence,

* Viage a la America Meridional, Part 1. Lib. 5. No. 713.

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