INSULTS FROM SPAIN. 209 



were unable, at any time, to persuade the 

 majority, consisting of European Spaniards, 

 to redress any of the grievances of their 

 constituents, or, in the slightest degree, to 

 mitigate the weight of oppression which 

 had so long burdened the inhabitants of 

 Spanish America. Not only this, but in- 

 sult was frequently added to injury; thus 

 in the first Cortes which assembled at 

 Cadiz, the Spanish members, whilst they 

 were eagerly anxious to obtain the free- 

 dom of their own country, seemed equally 

 solicitous, in the same breath, to enslave 

 the Spanish x4mericans. Some of them 

 even betrayed a malignity which, impolitic 

 as it was, to say the least of it, consider- 

 ing that they were speaking in the pre- 

 sence and hearing of the American mem- 

 bers, who formed part of the Cortes, was 

 rendered supremely ridiculous by its im- 

 potence. It was said by one, If the 

 Americans complain of having been tyran- 



