RELATIONS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 181 



managed the problems of a plantation colony with slave labor; nor 

 is it less interesting to compare the results of their respective policies 

 since the abolition of slavery. A comparison between the respective 

 slave codes of the Spanish, French, and the English colonies is some- 

 what disconcerting to the student of English blood, whose knowledge 

 of Spanish policy has been colored by some echo of Las Casas' 

 denunciations of the early conquistadores. If the comparison is ex- 

 tended to the criminal legislation in force in the colonies of these 

 nations, one is again compelled to acknowledge that whatever merits 

 are accorded to the English system superior humaneness is not one 

 of them. 



After such an introductory study we may appropriately compare 

 some phases of Mexico with New England, always keeping in mind, 

 however, in the case of Mexico, the influence of a climate like the 

 Rocky Mountain Plateau, of the rich stores of the precious metals, and 

 of the preservation of the native stocks. 



If after this comparison we apply the same process to the history 

 of La Plata region and of the Mississippi Valley, certain things stand 

 out clearly which may be briefly noted. The stupendous economic 

 development of these vast agricultural regions has been possible 

 only since the application of steam to industry and transportation. 

 This great factor which has revolutionized the relative advantages 

 of Argentina and Peru, and enabled Buenos Ayres to become the 

 greatest city in the Spanish American world, has in the same way 

 enormously increased the disparities between Mexico and the United 

 States. A comparison of these two communities before the entrance 

 of this factor shows that in more than one respect New Spain was 

 in advance of New England. This is true in regard to the prosecution 

 of higher scientific studies, the establishment of the institutions of 

 charity, libraries, art, and architecture: in a word, in those features 

 characteristic of the life of a wealthy community. 



I have referred to the Spanish treatment of inferior or dependent 

 races, and intimated that it compares favorably as a whole with the 

 contemporary treatment accorded to such dependents by the Eng- 

 lish colonists. The belief, of course, is widely prevalent that the 

 story of Spanish Indian policy was merely the tragedy of devastation; 

 but that view is profoundly mistaken. Its origin is found in the 

 curious fact that national jealousies of Spain three centuries and 

 more ago gave an enormous circulation in the various languages of 

 Western Europe to the impassioned appeals of Las Casas for the 

 protection of the natives. To depict the Indian policy of Spain from 

 the pages of Las Casas would be like drawing the history of South- 

 ern slavery from the columns of the Liberator and multiplying the 

 instances by ten. The Indians owed much to Las Casas and history 

 owes him much, but he apparently felt that boundless exaggeration 



