HISTORICAL SKETCH. 205 



Mexico, or New Spain, locally appertaining 

 to the continent of North America. 



There has been a sort of understanding 

 hitherto, or until a recent period, by which 

 South America and Spanish America were 

 considered as nearly identical ; and the 

 Spanish possessions in North America, of 

 great importance in themselves, from their 

 vast extent, their numerous population, and 

 immense resources, were all merged, as it 

 were, in the idea of South America. In- 

 deed, so prevalent has this notion become, 

 that it is very difficult to separate the two 

 ideas of South America, and Spanish Ame- 

 rica, more especially as it is amongst the 

 South Americans, strictly so called, that 

 the cause of independence has found its 

 most zealous and energetic supporters. In 

 the following sketch, therefore, wherever the 

 term South Americans is used, it must be 

 taken to have the same meaning as Spanish 



