309 



terns or groupes of states, confederations vari- 

 ously graduated would result. I here only 

 touch on the relations that arise from this 

 singular assemblage of colonies on an uninter- 

 rupted line of 1600 leagues in length. We have 

 seen in North America, an old atlantic state 

 divided into two, and each having a different 

 representation. The separation of the Maine 

 and the Massachusets, in 1820, was made in 

 the most peaceable manner. Schisms of this 

 kind will no doubt frequently occur in the Spa- 

 nish colonies ; but their moral state will, it may 

 be feared, render such changes turbulent. When 

 a people of European race naturally incline to- 

 wards provincial and municipal independence, 

 while the copper-colored natives have a no less 

 decided taste for political divisions of territory, 

 and the liberty of small communes, the best 

 form of government is that which, without 

 openly struggling against a national predilec- 

 tion, renders it the least hurtful to the general 

 interest, and the unity of the whole body. It 

 may be observed further, that the importance 

 of the geographical divisions of Spanish Ame- 

 rica, founded at the same time on the relations , 

 of local position, and the habits of several cen- 

 turies, have prevented the mother-country from 

 retarding the separation of the colonies by at- 

 tempting to establish Spanish princes in the 

 New World. In order to rule such vast pos- 



