58 



INTRODUCTION. 



mediate vicinity of the capital, notwithstanrling the 

 occasional acts of violence and injustice committed by 

 the consuls, or the laws which operated unfavorably to 

 the prosperity of the aggregate population. The ele- 

 gant manifesto of independence of Buenos Ayres, 

 enumerating the evils of the government they have 

 shaken off, thus expresses itself; ^'this system was 

 acted upon with the utmost rigor by the viceroys, 

 each of whom was invested with the authority of a 

 vizier; their authority was suflBcient to annihilate all 

 "who dared to displease them, and their vexations 

 however great, had to be borne with patience, while 

 those vexations were compared by satellites or wor- 

 shippers to the wrath of God.'' Thes^sfem was cer- 

 tainly such as is here described, but its practical ope- 

 ration is exaggerated. The Spanish colonial govern- 

 ment, operated most injuriously and oppressively on 

 the colony in the aggregate; restricting its commerce, 

 agriculture, and manufactures, by injudicious laws; 

 but as respects the individual colonists^ all writers 

 seem to agree, that more freedom was enjoyed by 

 them than in Old Spain. The reflected government 

 did not cherish, but neither did it scorch. There 

 were, perhaps, occasional exceptions I grant, which 

 would have been redressed in Spain; but there was 

 undoubtedly less general oppression. 



The viceroy, as the military chief, is styled captain- 

 general; and in this department is aided by i\i2> junta 

 de guerra; he is also governor intendant of the pro- 

 vince in which he resides; and, as such, he is at the 

 head of the judicial department, assisted by the ad- 

 vice of a professional man, who is styled the assessor, 

 but whose opinions he is not bound to follow. Every 



