Henry George Ward

“ The war affords the Insurgents an opportunity of knowing Foreign Powers, with whom they form connexions, and from whom they receive aid: the war, in fine, destroys, in detail, our little army, either by the fruitless fatigues of a campaign under the present system, or by exposing it to the influence of seduction, to which the apparent remoteness of our success gives but too much room, and the effects of which are felt even amongst the European soldiers, without its being possible for the Government either to replace them or the arms which they generally carry off. ”

“ Slavery rests upon the supposed natural inferiority of the slave to his master; to admit the manumitted slave to a participation of political rights, in common with his former lord, would destroy this basis altogether; and the Free Black is, therefore, not only exiled from the society of the Whites, but excluded most carefully from power; not by law, indeed, but by virtue of common usage; for the law, in general, does not recognize any difference of colour, or establish any distinction, except that of slave-owner and slave. ”

“ Galeana, who commanded in the Plaza, seeing a Spanish colonel at some distance from his troops, and endeavouring to bring them up to the charge again, sallied out upon him alone, engaged him hand to hand, and killed him on the spot; an action, which contributed, not a little, to raise the spirits of his own men. Indeed, nothing could exceed the enthusiasm with which Morelos had inspired both his troops, and the inhabitants of the town. ”

“ Nothing can be more horrible than the idea of thus reducing assassination to a system; and, even setting humanity and morality entirely aside, nothing could be more ill judged. It drove the Spaniards to despair, and furnished them, at the same time, with an excuse for any atrocities which they chose to commit. It discredited the cause of the Revolution, and prevented a number of respectable Creoles from espousing it. Allende himself, is said to have been so disgusted with the cruelty of his chief, that nothing but the approach of Calleja prevented him from abandoning him. ”

“ It now only remains for me to terminate this sketch of the Colonial Policy of Spain, by an account of the commercial restrictions which she imposed upon her American subjects, and which I consider as the great cause of the Revolution. It is in the endless grievances, vexations, and abuses, to which these restrictions gave rise, that we must seek the seeds of that discontent, by which the minds of all classes were indisposed towards the Mother country. ”

“ Without the riches of the Europeans, he could not pay his own debts, much less undertake an expensive war: without these same riches as a bait, he could not gratify that thirst for plunder which possessed the immense legions by which he was followed. Besides, it was as difficult to establish independence while the Europeans remained in power, as it was to prevent these vile and cruel traitors from giving loose to their rage against those who had from the first opposed its establishment. ”

“ The political preference given to Europeans, might rankle in the breasts of those Creoles, who, from their birth or fortune, conceived themselves to be entitled to a share of that authority which the old Spaniards engrossed; but it was a matter of indifference to the great mass of the people. The commercial monopoly of Cadiz, on the contrary, came home to all; and, from the enormous price to which every article of European produce was raised by it, it bore hardest upon those least able to support it. ”

“ If a system of absolute prohibition could ever prove a good one in the end, or ever be made to answer, by the greatest strictness in enforcing it, the policy of Spain might be held out, as an object of admiration to all future ages. From the first, she reserved to herself the exclusive right of supplying all the wants of her Colonies. No foreigner was permitted to trade with them, or foreign vessel to enter their ports;—no American could own a ship. ”

“ Never, certainly, has America known a more critical state of affairs, and never was any European governor so well entitled as your Excellency to dispense at once with the maxims of past ages; for if, in less dangerous times, the laws have often been allowed to sleep, when their observance might have checked the free action of the Government, surely your Excellency cannot now be condemned for the adoption of a measure, by which alone the preservation of this part of the monarchy can be effected. ”

“ Such was the object of the liberty of the press,—the elections, and other popular forms adopted in that Constitution; and this object was attained in the Peninsula, because the general desires of the people were in unison with those principles of justice which the Constitution sanctioned. Here, the result was exactly the reverse, because patriotism and public virtues were wanting; and because, if the will of the people, corrupted as it now is, prevails, the Independence of the country will be established also, in favour of which the great majority of the natives is undoubtedly decided. ”

“ Is it just, that, when the subjects of a friendly and generous nation present themselves in our ports, and offer us, at a cheap rate, the merchandize of which we are in want, and with which Spain cannot supply us, we should reject the proposal, and convert, by so doing, their good intentions to the exclusive advantage of a few European merchants, who, by means of a contraband trade, render themselves masters of the whole imports of the country? ”

“ Happily I now see some end to the evils which have afflicted us: all will cease as soon as His Majesty deigns to turn his eyes to this much wounded portion of his kingdom. My unshaken loyalty has long sighed for the day, which has at length arrived, and henceforward no one shall venture with impunity to refuse obedience, while I am at the head of this Government, to the orders of the Sovereign of Spain, Ferdinand the desired!
But the disaffected are all in favour of the Constitution ”

“ Viewed through the medium of delusive hope, Spanish America presented nothing but prospects of unalloyed advantage. Great and instantaneous success was to attend every enterprise there, without the employment of those means, upon which the experience of the world has hitherto proved success to depend. Time, industry, perseverance, a knowledge of the scene upon which operations were to commence,—of the men by whom they were to be conducted,—of the language and peculiarities of the country, in which they were to be carried on ”

“ The subsequent invasion of the Peninsula by Napoleon, the captivity of the Monarch, and the abdication of the Old Dynasty at Bayonne, contributed to destroy whatever remained of the prestige, which had before attached to the name of Spain, and created an impression, only the more strong, because, to the mass of the people in America, she was still the Spain of the sixteenth century, in whose dominions the sun never set, and whose arms were the terror of the world. ”

“ Still there was a feeling in the country so decidedly in favour of the Independent cause,—a feeling so strong, so universal, (as was proved four years later,) that had Mina succeeded in awakening it, his success would have been almost certain; but he struck the wrong chord. He was a Spaniard, and, very naturally, did not forget the land of his birth, nor wish to deprive it of the most precious jewel in its Crown. ”

“ In the course of that year, the declaration of the Army in favour of Independence occurred, and one of the first effects of political emancipation was, to free the country from that system of absolute prohibition, under which it had so long suffered. Foreign vessels were invited to visit the harbours of Mexico, on a footing of perfect equality with those of Spain; and most of the Spanish capitalists, disgusted by the prospect of such an encroachment upon their former monopoly, and discouraged, too, by the aspect of affairs, withdrew, with their families, to the Peninsula or the Island of Cuba. ”

“ Those who have been settled in Texas a few months, really enjoy more comforts (and these, in addition to the opportunity of realizing a handsome property,) than any peasantry with which I am acquainted. One act of liberality and hospitality-which is constantly practised by all his neighbours towards a new comer, whose character is found unexceptionable, would do honour to the most highly civilized people. They all assemble at the spot which he has fixed upon for his residence, with their axes and draught-oxen, fell the timber, and build for him his log-hut. ”

“ During the first few weeks, Victoria was supplied with provisions by the Indians, who all knew and respected his name; but Apodaca was so apprehensive that he would again emerge from his retreat, that a thousand men were ordered out, in small detachments, literally to hunt him down. Wherever it was discovered that a village had either received him, or relieved his wants, it was burnt without mercy; and this rigour struck the Indians with such terror, that they either fled at the sight of Victoria, or were the first to denounce the approach of a man, whose presence might prove so fatal to them. ”

“ At one time, with hypocritical warmth, they lamented the fatal blow which the interests of the Mother-country were about to receive, and at another, they predicted the ruin of the colony, and the total destruction of its commerce: others again announced the universal distress that the free exportation of the precious metals would bring upon us, and pretended to feel a lively interest in the fate of our native artisans (whom they have always hitherto despised) , endeavouring to enlist in their cause the sacred name of religion, and the interests of morality. ”

“ I am myself inclined to question the probability of Mexico ever finding a source of wealth in the exportation of her Cerealia, or, as it would be termed in the United States, her bread stuffs; and this, not from any deficiency in the power of producing, to almost any extent, but from the want of a market for the produce when raised. The consumption of the West Indian Islands is extremely limited, and most European nations have been endeavouring, for some years, to render themselves independent of external supplies, by growing a sufficiency of corn for home consumption. ”

“ The want of fixed principles, the preference of theory to practice, the dilatory habits of those in power at one time, and their ill-judged strides towards impracticable reforms at another,—all are of the modern Spanish school, as are the bombastical addresses to the people, the turgid style which disfigures most of the public documents of the Revolution, the intolerance, and jealousy of strangers, which are only now beginning to subside. ”

“ The flame might be extinguished in some of the Provinces, but it would appear in another; and while the remedy is applied to one, it would return to the other. It would not be sufficient even to destroy all the inhabitants of America, and convey a new population there, because the sons of those who must necessarily be born there, (it being impossible to send all the women to be confined in Europe,) would love their native soil, and be equally indignant at the oppression to which they would find themselves subjected. ”

“ The freedom of trade in America was not proscribed as a real evil, but because it was a sacrifice required of the colonies by the Mother-country. The events which led to the gradual increase of this exclusive commerce, till it became a monopoly of the Cadiz merchants, are well known.
Well informed men exclaimed in vain against a system so weak, so ruinous, and so ill judged; but inveterate evils are not to be cured at once. ”

“ POPULATION.
The first census ever taken of the population of Mexico, was that made in the year 1793, by the orders of the Viceroy, Count Revillagigedo; by which it appeared, that the number of inhabitants registered amounted to 4,483,529. This was the minimum of the population; as, independently of the difficulty with which statistical researches are always attended, it is well known, that, in America, a census was always regarded as the prelude to some new system of taxation, which the natives endeavoured to elude, by diminishing the number of those, upon whom it was to operate. ”

“ For what, Sir, can be more glaringly absurd than to hear a merchant clamouring for the enforcement of the prohibitive laws, and the exclusion of foreign trade, at the very door of a shop filled with English goods, clandestinely imported? ”

“ The government of Mexico, at the commencement of 1808, was entrusted to Don José Iturrigaray, whose authority as Viceroy, supported by a host of European officers, and settlers, whom the riches of the Colony attracted, appeared to be as firmly established as at any former period.
The country was flourishing, and tranquil; mines, and agriculture affording to the whole population, (which did not exceed seven millions,) occupation and wealth: nor did any thing announce the approach of that storm, by which the whole fabric of society was so soon to be overthrown. ”

“ Oppression is, without doubt, the first link in the chain of causes which have produced this effect. Throughout the Colonies, the fear of being betrayed to the French was very great, and not entirely without foundation. To this circumstance, which was common to all the Provinces, and occasioned the Revolution in Caracas, may be added the conduct of the Viceroy in Buenos Ayres, who communicated the intelligence of the invasion of Andalusia as a decisive blow, allowed the people to form a Congress, and to choose a Junta which should govern them. ”

“ This he effected at the head of a force, which seldom exceeded 2000 men; but a perfect acquaintance
with the country, (which is extremely mountainous and intricate,) and an unlimited influence over the minds of his followers, made up for all deficiencies in point of numbers, and rendered Victoria, very shortly, the terror of the Spanish troops.
It was his practice to keep but a small body of men about his person, and only to collect his force upon great occasions: a mode of warfare well suited to the wild habits of the natives, and, at the same time, calculated to baffle all pursuit. ”

“ Nature has bestowed upon her a soil teeming with fertility, and a climate, under which almost every production of the Old, and the New World finds the exact degree of heat necessary in order to bring it to perfection. But the peculiarity of structure, in which this variety of climate originates, neutralizes, in some measure, the advantages which the country might otherwise derive from it, by rendering the communication between the Table-land and the coast extremely difficult, and confining, within very narrow limits, the intercourse of the States in the interior with each other. ”