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, even, 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 delineation 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 institutions, 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

1

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 Bogata. 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."

drawn by Say, is perfectly applicable to those of Spain, Enumerating the defects of colonial systems, he observes, "that as the colonial chiefs, do not consider the countries wherein they govern, as those in which they are to live the whole of their lives; they feel no interest in making them happy and prosperous; but, on the contrary, all their views are directed to enrich themselves; because they are aware, that, on their return home, the consideration they are about to receive, will be in proportion to the property they have amassed, and not according to the conduct they may have observed, during their govern ment. If, to this is added, the arbitrary power, it is necessary to grant to those, who go to govern remote countries, we shall there find all the elements, which, in general, compose the worst of governments."* And if in our own distant establishments, where local checks existed, where comparative liberality and equity reigned, and where redress was attainable, chiefs have, sometimes, infringed the rights of the subject, and have been arbitrary and oppressive; we need not to be astonished, that this was the case, in the Spanish ultramarine provinces.

The assumed, as well as the delegated power of the said viceroys,† in its own nature, that is, comprising the executive, legislative, and military attributes, and, also, owing to the arrogant manner in which it was exercised, had, at length, not, only, become repugnant to every feeling of liberty and justice, but, had amounted to a motley despotism, the most scandalous that can be conceived. Besides being possessed of the absolute command, and,

Economie politique, lib. 1. chap. 23.

+ Their exorbitant power, is emphatically expressed, in one of their own sayings: Dios esta mui alto, el Rey en Madrid, y yo en Mexico. Meaning, that they are out of the reach of control.

against which, it was impossible to appeal; they were allowed to make generals and admirals, whom it was treason to disobey; so that, supported by Gothic tribunals, presided by European judges, with the faculty of interpreting the laws, and of judging of both the evidence and the fact, every one was subservient to their will, and trembled at their displeasure. It was under the unlimit ed authority of these Audiencias, or high courts of justice, that frequently were seen, clandestine decisions, noc turnal and arbitrary arrests, domiciliary visits, banish ments without previous trial, besides numerous othervexations, practised by them, and their inferior satellites. How often, has the friend of humanity, shuddered to be hold, and how often has the impartial and conversant writer of every nation revolted, as he penned the corrupt and debased manner in which the judicial proceedings of Spanish America,,were conducted; and how many have been the victims constantly sacrificed to partiality, corruption, or revenge?* Scarcely is there a solitary instance on record, of the frequent violations of private right and public justice, at length, meeting with condign punishment; for it was the custom of the court, to uphold its agents in their crimes, under a maxim of national policy, that it was necessary to support the distant authorities, as the most efficient means to insure subjection.

* A Spanish American friend of distinguished family, and great liberality, after seeing the world, assured me, that he often shuddered at what he remembered of his youth. At the age of sixteen, he in herited the right of regidor, or member of the cabildo, or municipality; and in that capacity, and at the above age, he sat as judge on trials for death, it being to this court, that such cases were referred in the first instance. The office of regidor, corresponding to ours of alderman, was inheritable and purchascable, in all Spanish America

Thus, thoughout had been established, a practical co.. lonial policy, calculated to depress and paralyze every effort of rising genius and labour; to rivet the poverty of the lower classes, and to blunt every charm of rational nature, and every feeling of social existence. The government of Spain, improvident and illiberal in itself, and sensible of its own wrongs and consequent insecurity, had, thence, become jealous, irritable and oppressive; till at last, little difference could be perceived, between the civil state of the Spanish Americans, and that of the peasant vassals, in the most oppressed of the feudal countries of our continent, as they lately stood, and as they are even yet to be found, in Russia.

*

Tributes generally, besides destructive mitas, in some sections, were exacted from the miserable aborigenes; the whole of whom, were constituted into the most unwarrantable and eternal pupilage and minority, and debarred from the means of acquiring property. They were often forced to work, gratis, on the farms of the governors and alcaldes, and often their little earnings, by various means, were unjustly extorted from them. Humboldt says, that the legislation of Isabella and Charles V. had deprived the Indians of the most important rights enjoyed by the other citizens.† The venerable bishop of Mechoacan, also quoted by the above author, represented to the king, that in the present state of things, the moral perfection of the Indians was impossible, and that they were held in a state of extreme humiliation and misery; that they have no other means of existing, than by becoming

* The laws forbid an Indian to contract a debt exceeding twentyfive dollars, so that they were unable to earn a livelihood, as traders or farmers; servitude being alone open to them.

+ Essai Pol. &c. vol. 1. chap. 4.