68 



INTROBUCTIOM. 



or acknowledged; and where the law is uncertain and 

 vagne, there can be no security for person or proper- 

 ty, however circumstances and situations, may for a 

 time afford a kind of freedom from oppression. 



The colonial government had been gradually ac- 

 quiring a singular complexity by the addition of a 

 great number of offices to each of the principal depart- 

 ments. The greater part of these offices, were sold 

 at fixed prices, and formed no inconsiderable item in 

 the royal revenue. Every new office that was created, 

 required afterwards a dozen others to watch over it; 

 the miserable refuge of a government that is con- 

 scious of the worthlessness of all its agents, and 

 which sees that its greedy and insatiable exactions, 

 justifies the endeavours of all to defraud. In those 

 departments connected with the royal revenue, this 

 complexity is chiefly remarkable. In the customs, 

 and in the mine districts, there are checks upon 

 checks without end. But they generally seem to 

 combine in one object, that of plundering both the 

 king and his American subjects. So certainly did 

 any kind of office lead to fortune, that they were 

 often solicited without salary, and many passed to the 

 colonies merely as expectants; about every office there 

 were at least half a dozen of these hungry creatures, 

 watching for the death or resignation of the incum- 

 bent. 



The ecclesiastical hierarchy formed a part of the 

 colonial government, and contributed perhaps more to 

 the support of the royal authority than even the mili- 

 tary force. Spanish America, exhibits a singular ex- 

 ception to the authority exercised by the popes over 

 the catholic church throughout the world. Pope 



