244 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



It is true, as the progress of the contest 

 has clearly shown, that there are, in Spanish 

 America, conflicting interests, and various 

 parties holding different, and sometimes 

 opposite political opinions ; but it has also 

 been proved, that these parties are ready 

 to suspend their differences, for the sake of 

 securing the great object of independence. 



It may reasonably be doubted, whether 

 the new systems and the old one can work 

 well together; and as the revolutionizing 

 the country in the extensive sense of that 

 term, is altogether out of the question, it 

 must necessarily be the labour of years, 

 and one too of infinite difficulty, to make 

 a compromise of different interests, in order 

 firmly to establish well-arranged govern- 

 ments, and to render the details of the 

 constitutions equivalent in value to the 

 general principles upon which they are 

 based. 



