lUSTOllICAL SKETCH. 235 



though, subsequently, the subordinate frame- 

 work and machinery of the internal polity of 

 Spain were made applicable in her colo- 

 nies, there never existed amongst the popu- 

 lation of the latter, that identity of interest, 

 and that unison of feeling, which were ap- 

 parent amongst the people of the British 

 provinces in North America. 



The prevalent spirit, in the two portions 

 of the American continent, was of course 

 different ; the British Constitution was car- 

 ried to the British colonies and settlements, 

 and its principles of freedom pervaded all the 

 institutions established there, as well as the 

 whole mass of the people: from the arbitrary 

 government of Spain, on the other hand, 

 nothing could of course be expected, but 

 the extension of a similar system to its colo- 

 nies. Thus the contests carried on by the 

 two sections of America, for independence, 

 became different in their nature, and vary 



