to the situation of Ireland some few years ago, to be convinced how much they are aggravated, where the question lyes between the native-born inhabitants of a country, and those who claim. a right from conquest, to hold them in subjection. The mu tual hatred of Creole and European, has been nowhere so strongly exemplified as in the insurrection of Mexico; and the consequence of their fury has been, the ruin and desolation of the country. Plantations have been wantonly laid waste, houses plundered and burned, and the works of the mines ruined and destroyed. No class, indeed, of the community has suffered so severely from the war, as the proprietors of the mines. The insurrection broke out in the mining districts; and the two principal cities of the miners, Guanaxuato and Zacatecas, were for a long time in the hands of the rebels. But, whether they have been greatest sufferers, from the blind and inconsiderate fury of the insurgents, or from the fierce and unrelenting vengeance of the conqueror, it would be difficult to determine. We understand, that the mines are not only abandoned for the present, but, from the destruction of the miners, and ruin of the works, that it will be no easy matter to restore them to their former activity. In the mean time, what sums the government could spare, have been applied to the restoration of this important branch of national industry.

After this historical review, which we have endeavoured to -make as concise as possible, consistent with our object of pointing out the nature, extent and causes of the present troubles in America, we shall, in a few words, state our reasons for thinking, that it is not for the interest of the Spanish colonies to declare themselves independent, or to separate entirely from the mother country, unless compelled to it by the unreasonable obstinacy of the government of Cadiz, or by the complete conquest of Spain by the arms of France.

In the first place, it is clear, that independence of the mother country is not to be attained at present by the colonies, without a civil war and all its consequences-such as the devastation and destruction of the country, the interruption of all peaceful industry, divisions and animosities among the inhabitants, militąry tyranny and usurpation, or, what is worse, subserviency to some foreign power, not less rapacious than Spain, and more jealous of her dependencies. The numbers of Europeans in America, who would resist so great a revolution, unless forced upon them by necessity; the power which they possess; the union that subsists among them; the influence they derive from property, from intermarriages and other connexions with Creole families; their activity and habits of business; the respect in

VOL. XIX. No. 37.

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which they are held by the inferior casts, and by the Creoles themselves; and even the ideas of their own superiority, in which they have been accustomed to indulge; render them, though the smaller party, a formidable body, which ought not in prudence to be exasperated. Oppression may be so galling, and grievances so intolerable, as to overcome all these considerations; but an empty name is not worth the purchasing with present war and future discord.

In the second place, the sudden change from dependent colonies to sovereign states, is a transition too great and too abrupt to be unattended with danger. The Spanish colonies have never been entrusted with any part of their internal administration; and are therefore quite unpractised in the government of their affairs. A nation may be compelled by circumstances to pass at once from the custody of a master, to the free and absolute direction of its own concerns. But there will be less hazard in the change, if the steps that lead to it are gradual. Freedom, to be well enjoyed, must not be seized upon immaturely. The way to profit of conjunctures favourable to liberty, is not to do all that is possible at the moment, but to attempt no more than the necessities of the time require, and the state of public opinion warrants.

Lastly, the character and composition of society in America greatly increase the difficulty and augment the danger of a thorough revolution in its government. The property of the country is chiefly in the hands of Creoles and Europeans; while the majority of the population consists of Indians, Mulattoes, and Mestizoes. These casts are not more distinguished from one another by differences of physical constitution and appearance, than alienated by sentiments of mutual prejudice and aversion. The Court of Madrid, with that narrow policy which so long distinguished it, sought to preserve, rather than to extinguish, these differences; and with regret we observe, in the late proceedings of the Cortes, a disposition in some of its members to perpetuate them. * But, supposing the contrary system adopted, and the most effectual means employed for eradicating every cause of antipathy and discontent from the colonies, it must be a work of time to consolidate such mixed and discordant materials as compose the present population of America. In the mean while, will the pride of the Creole admit the Indian and Mulatto to a real equality with himself? Will the hatred and jealousy

* See the speech of Quintana, and the proposition of Arguelles, on the representation of the colonies in Cortes.

jealousy of the inferior casts suffer the political power of the state to become the exclusive patrimony of the Whites? On what foundations shall we raise the new political structures that are to adorn America? If property is made the sole basis of political power, how will the subordinate casts be reconciled to a system which will leave them, naked and unprotected, at the mercy of their old taskmasters and oppressors? If population is preferred, and mere numbers regulate the government, what security against the gross ignorance and blind fury of an uneducated multitude, invested with the whole political power of the state? So far from wishing to see America totally independent of the mother country, we are convinced that nothing is so essential to her welfare, as an authority respected by her inhabitants, because it does not emanate directly from themselves.

The dangers of discord and division, arising from the mixed population of America, are greatly aggravated by the discussions in which the revolutionists have imprudently indulged, in support and vindication of their independence. Will it be believed, that among the charges against the mother country by Caracas, her advocates have urged the excesses committed by the Weltzers in the 16th century? If such old accounts are still open, what a reckoning have the Creoles to settle with the posterity of Atahualpa and Guatimozin? The revolutionists justify their resistance to the mother country, by appealing to the natural right of freemen to chuse their government. We shall not enter into a discussion with them about the limits or application of that principle, but merely ask them, whether, after insisting on such arguments, they mean to accommodate their practice to their theory. If they should have recourse to artifice or chicane for the purpose of excluding their sable or copper-coloured brethren from an equal participation of political power, do they suppose that, fresh from these lessons of natural right, the degraded casts will submit quietly to the disfranchisement? And, superior as these are in numerical population, if admitted to a political equality with the whites, will they not in effect be their masters? That the practice and theory of the revolutionists may be found at variance, when they come to settle their governments, is a supposition not altogether gratuitous, but probable from many parts of their conduct. Principles urged with the greatest confidence against the mother country, appear to them to have lost their virtue, when directed against themselves. The first Junta of Buenos Ayres exclaimed against the Regency of Cadiz as an illegitimate and usurped authority, but endeavoured by trick and delay to prolong its own dominion over the distant towns of the Rio Plata.

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If the principles of natural right make it lawful for the people of Caracas to separate from Spain, why have not the people of Valencia an equal right to separate from Caracas? What right has Caracas to form a constitution for herself, that does not equally belong to Coro and Maracaybo? Such, however, is the inconsistency of human conduct, that the leaders of Caracas who plead their natural rights against Spain, have punished the Valencians as rebels, and are collecting and equipping armies to reduce Coro and Maracaybo to subscribe to their confederation.

The eager friends of American independence will accuse us of partiality to the mother country in these remarks. We fear the politicians of Cadiz will be still more offended with us for the observations that are to follow.

Anxiously, then, as we desire that the connexion between Spain and her American dominions should not be dissolved, while Spain maintains her struggle for independence, we are so thoroughly convinced, that America is entitled to a full and complete redress of her grievances, that if the mother country obstinately refuses to comply with her just petitions, we think the colonists ought to persevere in their insurrection, and obtain by force that redress for the past, and security for the future, which pride and avarice withhold from them. That independence will he the natural result of such a conflict, if successful on the part of the colonists, we too plainly see; and it is for that reason we entreat those who have authority in Spain, while it is yet time, to stop the progress of war, by just concessions to their subjects.

These concessions, however, if they are meant to be a suitable offering to America, must neither be few nor inconsiderable. In the first place, her government must be placed in such hands, that whatever may be the fate of Spain, the independence of America will be secure. The majority of persons in the service of the state, in the army, in the law, in the church, in the collection of revenue and other subordinate departments of government, must be native Americans, or Europeans long settled in the country, who have an interest in its safety and welfare equal to that of its native inhabitants. In the second place, the commerce of America must be free. The Americans must have a right to trade directly with all countries in amity with the crown of Spain, paying such duties as their own provincial assemblies, and not the Cortes at Cadiz, shall impose. Protecting duties may be necessary in some parts of America for her own manufactures; but these will vary in their nature and amount, according to the circumstances of the different provinces, of which none can judge

so well as their local legislatures. It moves our indignation to hear the hypocritical lamentations of the merchants of Cadiz over the ruined manufactures of America,--compassion for whom, they would persuade us, is their chief reason for withholding freedom of trade from the colonies. We hardly dare ask ourselves, whether these are the same persons who used to procure orders from Madrid to root out the vines and burn the looms of America, lest they should interfere with the lucrative commerce of the mother country. In the third place, the malversations and corruptions of the courts of law, and the abuses and excesses of the executive branches of administration, must be corrected and punished in America, by tribunals independent of the Crown. In the fourth place, America must impose her own taxes; grant and appropriate her own revenue; receive an account of its expenditure from the servants of the Crown; and increase or diminish its amount at the discretion of her representatives.

To carry this system of conciliation into effect, there must be provincial legislatures in America, invested with the sole power of imposing taxes; and, with the consent of the Crown, of making laws. These assemblies will be chosen by the people, but summoned by the King. Annual taxes and an annual meeting bill will secure their regular convocation. A representation, founded on property, will not exclude the inferior casts from political power and consideration, and yet leave, in fact, to the whites, where it can best be lodged, a preponderance in the Legislature; while the authority and influence of the Crown will secure to the Indians and Mulattoes, a protection and defence against oppression. The visionary and impracticable scheme of representing America in the Cortes of Spain must be abandoned, and with it all pretensions to legislative authority, in the mother country, over her colonies. The Crown will, in that case, be the sole bond of political union between Spain and America; and in return for so many sacrifices from the mother country,-America must consent, that, till the exercise of the royal authority shall be restored in the person of the monarch, the executive power established in the peninsula shall be recognised in the colonies. The connexion of Spain with America will be the same with that of Great Britain and Ireland, before the Union,-supposing a law to have been passed in Ireland, as was once proposed, that whoever was Regent of Great Bri tain should, ipso facto, be Regent of Ireland. Such a connexion is, perhaps, not the most desireable form of government for either party; but, in the present circumstances of both, it is preferable to a complete separation and civil war. Let the ex

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