INTRODUCTION. 



87 



changes were not the result of enlightened reflection, 

 but brought about by circumstances which could not 

 be resisted. A rapid survey of the commercial his. 

 tory of Spanish America will confirm the justice of 

 the preceding observations. 



The principle upon which the whole system was 

 built was simply this, that the colony existed only for 

 the benefit of the inhabitants of the metropolis.^ The 

 colony being the property of the metropolis, its native 

 inhabitants were in some measure regarded in the 

 light of vassals to the natives of Old Spain. The ob- 

 ject constantly in view in the system of colonial go- 

 vernment, was to gather wealth in the hands of the 

 Spanish merchants, to foster and enrich Spanish 

 manufactures, to indulge favorites and parasites, to 

 support military, civil, and religious functionaries, 

 and finally, to furnish the means of carrying on wars 

 in which the Indies had not the most distant concern. 

 If all the items furnished by Spanish America were 

 set down, they would furnish a curious account 

 against the metropolis. One of these would be fifty 

 millions of dollars for the palace of the escurial; 

 another would be the expenses of a war of seventy 



* The following is the acknowledgment of a Spanish writer, in 

 a work as late as 1816— "Espagna con industria, fuerte y rica," 

 page 123. Spain with industry strong and rich. En todaslas na- 

 ciones fuertes ha consistido el sistema colonial en elfomento de la 

 metropolis comhinado, en lo parte possible, con el de las colonias 

 mismias, "In every powerful nation the colonial system has 

 had for its object the benefit of the metropolis, and as far as is 

 compatible with this, that of the colonies themselves." What 

 equality is there here? Is not this the language of a master to his 

 slave? this is undoubtedly the foundation of all modern systems—, 

 a just cause of resistance can therefore never be wanting. 



