305 



1777. This union, which will be always indis- 

 pensable for external safety, this centralization 

 of powers in a country six times larger than 

 Spain, has had political combinations for its 

 motive. The calm progress of the new govern- 

 ment has justified the wisdom of those motives, 

 and the Congress will find still fewer obstacles 

 in the execution of its beneficent projects for 

 national industry and civilization, in propor- 

 tion as it can grant more liberty to the pro- 

 vinces, and make them feel the advantages of 

 institutions which they have purchased at the 

 price of their blood. In every form of govern- 

 ment, in republics as well as in tempered mo- 

 narchies, ameliorations in order to be salutary 

 must only be progressive. New- Andalusia, 

 Caraccas, Cundinamarca, Popayan, and Quito, 

 are not confederated states like Pensylvania, 

 Virginia, and Maryland, Without juntas, or 

 provincial legislatures, all those countries are 

 directly subjected to the congress and govern- 

 ment of Columbia. According to the consti- 

 tutional act (art. 152), the intendants and go- 

 vernors of the departments and provinces are 

 named by the president of the republic. It 

 may be naturally supposed that such depen- 

 dence has not always appeared favorable to the 

 liberty of the communes, which tend to discuss 

 themselves their local interests, and that it has 

 sometimes occasioned debates which may be 



VOL. VI. x 



