mies and governed by mild laws, as those of
any other tropical country under native or European sway,--owing,
in some measure, to the frequently discussed peculiar circumstances
which protect the interests of the natives.

[Friars an important factor.] The friars, also, have certainly had
an essential part in the production of the results.

[Their defects have worked out for good.] Sprung from the lowest
orders, inured to hardship and want, and on terms of the closest
intimacy with the natives, they were peculiarly fitted to introduce
them to a practical conformity with the new religion and code
of morality. Later on, also, when they possessed rich livings,
and their devout and zealous interest in the welfare of the masses
relaxed in proportion as their incomes increased, they materially
assisted in bringing about the circumstances already described,
with their favorable and unfavorable aspects. Further, possessing
neither family nor good education, they were disposed to associate
themselves intimately with the natives and their requirements;
and their arrogant opposition to the temporal power generally arose
through their connection with the natives. With the altered condition
of things, however, all this has disappeared. The colony can no
longer be kept secluded from the world. Every facility afforded for
commercial intercourse is a blow to the old system, and a great step
made in the direction of broad and liberal reforms. The more foreign
capital and foreign ideas and customs are introduced, increasing
the prosperity, enlightenment, and self-respect of the population,
the more impatiently will the existing evils be endured.

[Contrast with English colonies.] England can and does open her
possessions unconcernedly to the world. The British colonies are
united to the mother country by the bond of mutual advantage,
viz. the production of raw material by means of English capital,
and the exchange of the same for English manufactures. The wealth
of England is so great, the organization of her commerce with the
world so complete, that nearly all the foreigners even in the British
possessions are for the most part agents for English business houses,
which would scarcely be affected, at least to any marked extent,
by a political dismemberment. It is entirely different with Spain,
which possesses the colony as an inherited property, and without the
power of turning it to any useful account.

[Menaces to Spanish rule.] G