INTRODUCTION. 6? 



cabildo. The king in his council of the Indies, is 

 absolute as respects America; that is, he unites in 

 himself the three great branches of government The 

 viceroy, so far as he is not directly controlled by the 

 council of the Indies, possesses a similar power over 

 all departments below him. The audiencia is the su- 

 preme court of judicature, and the council of the 

 viceroy; while the cabildo is absolute with respect to 

 those things under its control; and yet acts in ohedi- 

 ence to the viceroy, when he thinks proper to inter- 

 fere. From these elements, some idea may be form- 

 ed of the kind of governments established on the ex- 

 pulsion of the Spanish authorities. It is natural to 

 expect, that the new establishment must partake more 

 or less of the character of the old. To visionary 

 theorists, it may appear an easy matter for a people 

 to shake off their old habits, and to unlearn at once; 

 but experience and good sense, forbid us to form any 

 such expectations.* Heretofore in Spanish America, 

 no specific rights of the citizen were exactly defined 



* I have heard it expressed by persons of some pretensions, that 

 nothing is necessary but the introduction into any country, of the 

 forms of free government, and that the people will at once be 

 free as a matter of course. This is a great mistake. A people 

 must be educated and prepared for freedom. It is true that des- 

 potic forms will soon extinguish the flame of liberty; but the oppo- 

 site kind of government, such as we enjoy, would be useless and 

 inoperative among a slavish ignorant people. All that can be ex- 

 pected is to give them the best that circumstances will allow, and 

 set to work to prepare them for a better by education and the dif- 

 fusion of knowledge. The progress of the South Americans is 

 more rapid than their most sanguine friends had any right to ex- 

 pect; that they should at once establish a government such as ours^ 

 surely ought not to be required. 



