303 



nobility, and loithout losing honor or reputation? 

 If we reflect that of late years the custom- 

 house of the Havannah only, has collected more 

 than three millions of piastres; and if we con- 

 sider at the same time the extent of the terri- 

 tory, and the agricultural wealth of Venezuela, 

 we cannot doubt of the progressive increase of 

 the public revenue in that fine part of the 

 world ; but the accomplishment of this hope, 

 and every other we have announced, depends 

 on the return of peace, and on the wisdom and 

 stability of the institutions that are established. 



I have stated in this chapter the statistical 

 elements which I had occasion to collect in my 

 travels, and by my uninterrupted intercourse 

 with the Spanish-Americans. As the historian 

 of the colonies, I have presented facts in all 

 their simplicity ; the attentive and exact study 

 of those facts being the only means f of laying 

 aside vague conjectures, and vain declamations. 

 This wary manner becomes the more indispen- 

 sable at a moment when we may be tempted to 

 yield too easily to the predilections of hope, and 

 of ancient affections. Dawning societies pos- 

 sess something of the charm of youth ; they 

 have its glowing sentiments, its ingenuous con- 

 fidence, and even its credulity ; they offer a 



* Hecherches statistiques sur la vil/e de Paris, 1823, IntrocL 

 p. 1 et 5, 



