caused by Napoleon,—by the Council of Castile,—by the Junta of Seville, which, by means of its commissioners, threw all Mexico into confusion,—by the arrest of the Viceroy Iturrigaray,—by the fear of falling under the dominion of the French, or by the desire to continue subject to Spain." At other times, it has been said that the number of strangers admitted by Spain into her colonies has occasioned the loss of her sovereignty there; and that the improvement of the natives, has both taught them their rights, and made them impatient to recover them.—Others again have urged,—"the natural propensity of the Creoles to idle change;—their desire to obtain their share of honours, public employments, and full liberty,—their wish, in every thing, to vie with the Europeans,—the terrible inequality of their present lot,—the small proportion of American representatives,—the injustice with which the inhabitants have been treated, and their determination to put an end to a system of oppression, which began with the Conquest."
19.—The result will have convinced your Majesty of the fallacy of these assertions, each of which was, usually, accompanied by the recommendation of some particular measure, which was to serve as a remedy for the evil. The remedy has been tried,—one concession after another has been made; but the evil remains, and will remain, exactly in statu quo.
20.—Some other cause must, therefore, be assigned for the calamities which afflict New Spain, and it is as easy to point it out, as it is to affirm that it is the only one:—a King, who, although himself a sage, thought that he might disregard the practice of every other nation, abandoned this province to its fate, by withdrawing the Colonial (Presidial) garrison. From that moment it might have been foreseen that it would aspire to Independence as soon as it felt its own strength.—Such has been always the desire of colonies situated at a distance from the centre of government:—they have invariably preferred their own advantage, to the laws of justice.
(It is unnecessary to follow the exposé through the following paragraphs, in which the Audiencia attempts to prove that a colony can never cancel its debt of gratitude to the Mother-country, and that in Mexico those with whom the first idea of
