MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



555 



it in more quiet and peaceful 

 times. There is danger too, as 

 the power of forming and adopt- 

 ing the constitution is placed in 

 the hands of a few, that the rights 

 and privileges of the people may 

 not be so well understood or 

 attended to as they would have 

 been had the people themselves 

 had a more immediate agency in 

 the affair. It is not to be doubt- 

 ed, however, that it will at least 

 have a republican form, and be 

 bottomed upon the principles of 

 independence, which is contended 

 for by all descriptions of politi- 

 cians in the country who have 

 taken part in the revolution, and 

 will, it is believed, be supported 

 by them, in any event, to the last 

 extremity. 



Their means of defence, of 

 which they are fully aware, are, 

 in proportion to their numbers, 

 greater perhaps than those of 

 almost any other people, and the 

 duration and the events of the 

 war have strengthened the ge- 

 neral determination never to 

 submit to Spain. This determi- 

 nation rests upon the recollection 

 of former sufferings and depriva- 

 tions ; upon a conscientiousness 

 of their ability to defend and to 

 govern themselves ; and upon a 

 conviction that, in case of sub- 

 mission on any terms, they 

 would, sooner or later, be made 

 to feel the vengeance of the 

 mother country. These con- 

 siderations doubtless have the 

 most weight upon those who 

 have taken a leading part. 

 They, of course, use all their 

 influence to enforce them, and 

 thus to keep up the spirit of the 

 revolution. In this they prob- 

 ably have had the less diificulty, 



as although the sufferings of the 

 people have been great, particu- 

 larly in military service, and in 

 raising the contributions neces- 

 sary for that service, yet the 

 incubus of Spanish power being 

 thrown off, and with it that train 

 of followers who filled up almost 

 every avenue to wealth and con- 

 sequence, the higher classes have 

 been awakened to a sense of 

 advantages they did not before 

 enjoy. They have seen their 

 commerce freed from legal 

 restraints, their articles of export 

 become more valuable, their sup- 

 plies furnished at a lower rate, 

 and all the offices of government, 

 or other employments, laid open 

 to them as fair objects of com- 

 petition. The lower classes have 

 found their labour more in de- 

 mand, and better paid for ; and 

 their importance in society greater 

 than it formerly was. 



They are yet, however, from 

 their indolence, genei'al want of 

 education, and the great mixture 

 of " castes" among them, in a 

 degraded state, but little felt in 

 tile affairs of the government. 

 The stimulus now given will 

 operate to produce a change in 

 them for the better, and it is to be 

 presumed, will gradually have its 

 effect, as their docility, intelli- 

 gence, and activity, when called 

 into service, give evidence that 

 they are not deficient in natural 

 or physical powers. 



Labour, as it becomes more 

 general, will become less ii'ksome 

 to individuals, and the gradual 

 acquisition of property which 

 must necessarily result from it in 

 such a country, under a good 

 government, will doubtless pro- 

 duce the happy effects there which 



it 



