TTU 
IThTEODTTCTIOIT. 
philosophy in general have been long since acknowledged. 
Happy the traveller who may cherish the hope that he has 
availed himself of the advantages of his position, and that he has 
added some new facts to the mass of those previously acquired ! 
Since I left America, one of those great revolutions, which at 
certain periods agitate the human race, has broken out in the 
Spanish colouies, and seems to prepare new destinies for a popu- 
lation of fourteen millions of inhabitants, spreading from the 
southern to the northern hemisphere, from the shores of the Rio 
de la Plata and Chile to the remotest part of Mexico. Deep 
resentments, excited by colonial legislation, and fostered by mis- 
trustful policy, have stained with blood regions which had en- 
joyed, for the space of nearly three centuries, what I will not 
call happiness but uninterrupted peace. At Quito several of the 
most virtuous and enlightened citizens have perished, victims of 
devotion to their country. While I am giving the description of 
regions, the remembrance of which is so dear to me, I continually 
light on places which recall to my mind the loss of a friend. 
When we reflect on tho great political agitations of the New 
World, we observe that the Spanish Americans are by no means 
in so favourable a position as the inhabitants of the United 
States ; the latter having been prepared for independence by the 
long enjoyment of constitutional liberty. Internal dissensions 
are chiefly to be dreaded in regions where civilization is but 
slightly rooted, and where, from the influence of climate, forests 
may soon regain their empire over cleared lands if their culture 
be abandoned. It may also be feared that, during a long series 
of years, no foreign traveller will be enabled to traverse all the 
countries which I have visited. This circumstance may perhaps 
add to the interest of a work which pourtrays the state of the 
greater part of the Spanish colonies at the beginning of the 19th 
century. I even venture to indulge the hope that this work will 
be thought worthy of attention when passions shall be hushed 
into peace, and when, under the influence of a new social order, 
those countries shall have made rapid progress in public welfare. 
If then some pages of my book are snatched from oblivion, the 
inhabitant of the banks of the Orinoco and the Atabapo will 
behold with delight populous cities enriched by commerce, and 
fertile fields cultivated by the hands of free men, on those very 
spots where, at the time of my travels, I found only impenetrable 
forests and inundated lands. 
