CAUSES OF DISCONTENT. 269 



there were many laws tending to throw 

 obstacles in the way of marriages. 



Considering the oppressive, vexatious, 

 and degrading character of these and si- 

 milar restrictions, and the utter contempt 

 for the feelings of the South Americans, 

 which was manifested in almost every act 

 by the Spanish government and its agents, 

 it may be a matter of surprise, that resist- 

 ance to such an overbearing sway was not 

 earlier manifested, or sooner organized. 

 But the apathy of the Creoles, and the 

 respect they entertained for Spain, not- 

 withstanding all the oppression they en- 

 dured ; the intellectual weakness of the 

 Indians, and the state of ignorance and 

 political insignificance in which the other 

 races were kept, serve sufficiently to ac- 

 count for that sort of blind submission 

 with which they obeyed the dictates of 

 the Spanish government and of its agents. 



