America: A history

by Robert Mackenzie

For three hundred years Spain governed the rich possessions which she had so easily won. At the close of that period the population was about sixteen million—a number very much smaller than the conquerors found on island and continent. The increase of three centuries had not repaired the waste of thirty years. Of the sixteen million two were Spaniards; the remainder were Indians, negroes, or persons of mixed descent.

Spain ruled in a spirit of blind selfishness. Her aim was to wring from her tributary provinces the largest possible advantage to herself. Her administration was conducted by men sent out from Spain for that purpose, and no man was eligible for office unless he could prove his descent from ancestors of unblemished orthodoxy. It was held that men circumstanced as these were must remain for ever true to the pleasant system of which they formed part, and were in no danger of becoming tainted with colonial sympathies. This expectation was not disappointed. During all the years of her sordid and unintelligent rule, the servants of Spain were scarcely ever tempted, by any concern for the welfare of the colonists, to deviate from the traditional policy of the parent State. Corruption fostered by a system of government which inculcated the wisdom of a rapid fortune and an early return to Spain was excessive and audacious. Those Spaniards who had made their home in the colonies were admitted to no share in the administration. Many of them had amassed great wealth; but yielding to the influences of an enervating climate and a repressive Government, they had become a luxurious, languid class, devoid of enterprise or intelligence.

In course of years the poor remnants of the native population which had been bestowed, for a certain number of lives, upon the conquerors, reverted to the Crown, and their annual tribute formed a considerable branch of revenue.[35] The Indians had been long recognized by the law as freemen, but they were still in the remoter districts subjected to compulsory service on the fields and in the mines. They were no longer, however, exposed to the unrestrained brutality of a race which they were too feeble to resist. Officers were appointed in every district to inquire into their grievances and protect them from wrong. In their villages they were governed by their own chiefs, who were salaried by the Spanish Government; and they lived in tolerable contentment, avoiding, so far as that was possible, the unequal companionship which had brought misery so great upon their race.

In the early years of the conquest, negroes were imported from Africa on the suggestion of Las Casas,[36] and for the purpose of staying the destruction of the native population. Negro labour was soon found to be indispensable, and the importation of slaves became a lucrative trade. The demand was large and constant; for the negroes perished so rapidly in their merciless bondage that in some of the islands one negro in every six died annually. France enjoyed for many years the advantage of supplying these victims. 1713 A.D. But England having been victorious over Spain in a great war, wrung from her the guilty privilege of procuring for her the slaves who were to toil and die in her cruel service. After the Treaty of Utrecht, the Spanish colonists were forbidden to purchase negroes excepting from English vessels.

Down to the period of the conquest the Indians had utterly failed to establish dominion over the lower animals. Excepting in Peru, there was almost no attempt made to domesticate, and in Peru it extended no higher than to the sheep. There was no horse on the continent; there were no cattle. It was the fatal disadvantage of being without mounted soldiers which made the subjugation of the Indians so easy. The Spaniards introduced the horse as the chief instrument of their success in war. From time to time as riders were killed in battle, or died smitten by disease, their neglected horses escaped into the wilderness. 1548 A.D. Fifty years after the discovery of the New World a Spaniard introduced cattle. On the boundless plains of the southern continent the increase of both races was enormous. In course of years countless millions of horses and of cattle wandered masterless among the luxuriant vegetation of the pampas. Their presence introduced an element which was wanting before in the population. The pastoral natives of the pampas, to whose ancestors the horse was unknown, have become the best horsemen in the world. They may almost be said to live in the saddle. They support themselves mainly by hunting and slaughtering wild cattle. The submissiveness of their fathers has passed away. They are rude, passionate, fierce; and, as the Spaniards found to their cost, they furnish an effective and formidable cavalry for the purposes of war. A few thousands of such horsemen would have rendered Spanish conquest impossible, and given a widely different course to the history of the continent.

In spite of the indolence of the colonial Spaniards and the mischievous restrictions imposed by the mother country, the trade of the colonies had largely increased. Especially was this the case when certain ameliorations, which even Spain could no longer withhold, were introduced. 1748 A.D. The annual fleet was discontinued; single trading ships registered for that purpose sailed as their owners found encouragement to send them. 1765 A.D. By successive steps the trade of the islands was opened to all Spaniards trading from the principal Spanish ports; the continental colonies were permitted to trade freely with one another, and 1774 A.D. a few years later they were permitted to trade with the islands. These tardy concessions to the growing enlightenment of mankind resulted in immediate expansion, and increased the colonial traffic to dimensions of vast importance. 1809 A.D. At the time when the colonies raised the standard of revolt their annual purchases from Spain amounted to fifteen million sterling, and the annual exports of their own products amounted to eighteen million. The colonial revenue was in a position so flourishing that, after providing for all expenses on a scale of profuse and corrupt extravagance, Spain found that her American colonies yielded her a net annual profit of two million sterling.

The Spaniards, although, as one of the results of their prolonged religious war against the Moorish invaders, they had fallen under a debasing subserviency to their priests, cherished a hereditary love of civil liberty. The Visigoths, from whom they sprang, brought with them into Spain an elective monarchy, a large measure of personal freedom, and even the germs of a representative system. During the war of independence the cities enjoyed the privilege of self-government, and were represented in the national councils. 1504 A.D. Queen Isabella, in her will, spoke of “the free consent of the people” as being essential to the lawfulness of taxation. A few years afterwards, the King’s Preachers, in their noble pleading for the Indians, assert that “a King’s title depends upon his rendering service to his people, or being chosen by them.” Three centuries later, the Spaniards gave unexpected evidence that their inherited love of democracy had not been extinguished by ages of blind superstition and despotism. 1812 A.D. While Europe still accepted the practice and even the theory of personal government, there issued from the Spanish people a democratic constitution, which served as a rallying cry to the nations of Southern Europe in their early struggles for liberty and representation.

The successful assertion of their independence by the thirteen English colonies of the northern continent appealed to the slumbering democracy of the Spanish colonists, and increased the general discontent with the political system under which they lived. 1780 A.D. A revolt in Peru gave to Spain a warning which she was not sufficiently wise to understand. The revolt was suppressed. Its leader, after he had been compelled to witness the death by burning of his wife and children, was himself torn to pieces by wild horses in the great square of Lima. The Spanish Government, satisfied with its triumph, made no effort to remove the grievances which estranged its subjects and threatened the overthrow of its colonial empire.

For thirty years more, although discontent continued to increase, the languid tranquillity of the Spanish colonies was undisturbed. But there had now arisen in Europe a power which was destined to shatter the decaying political systems of the Old World, and whose influences, undiminished by distance, were to introduce changes equally vast upon the institutions of the New World. Napoleon had cast greedy eyes upon the colonial dominion of Spain, and coveted, for the lavish expenditure which he maintained, the treasure yielded by the mines of Peru and Mexico. 1808 A.D. He placed his brother on the throne of Spain; he attempted to gain over the Viceroys to his side. Spain was now a dependency of France. The colonists might have continued for many years longer in subjection to Spain, but they utterly refused to transfer their allegiance to her conqueror. With one accord they rejected the authority of France; and, having no rightful monarch to serve, they set up government for themselves. At first they did not claim to be independent, but continued to avow loyalty to the dethroned King, and even sent money to strengthen the patriot cause. But meantime they tasted the sweetness of liberty. Four years later the usurpers were cast out, and the old King was brought back to Madrid. Spain sought to replace her yoke upon the emancipated colonies, making it plain that she had no thought of lightening their burdens or widening their liberties. The time had passed when it was possible for Spanish despotism to regain its footing on American soil. Many of the provinces had already claimed their independence, and the others were prepared for the same decisive step. The ascendency of Europe over the American continent had ceased. But Spain followed England in her attempt to compel the allegiance of subjects whose affection she had forfeited. In her deep poverty and exhaustion she entered upon a costly war, which, after inflicting for sixteen years vast evils on both the Old World and the New, terminated in her ignominious defeat.