in every class of public employment, had been shut against all persons of information, patriotism, and real merit,[1] while it had been opened, by intrigue and court favour, to persons depraved, vicious, or, at best, totally unfit to command." The Colonists were not to be satisfied with words; they thought, and said, that any thing short of specific reforms would be unavailing; and that "the best laws were useless, as long as a Captain-general could affirm, with impunity, that in his government he recognized no authority superior to his own:[2] they, therefore, regarded the abolition of offices, inseparably connected, in their minds, with the abuses, the existence of which was admitted, as a first step towards improvement, and this step they determined to take themselves, when they found the Mother country resolved to retain to the last every attribute of her former power.
Such was the state of affairs at the commencement of 1810: I have quoted documents of a later date, in order the better to illustrate it; and they
- ↑ Lest these terms be thought too strong, I subjoin the passage in the original, as contained in a Circular of the Regency, dated, Isla de Leon, 15th February, 1810. "Convencido el Consejo," &c. "de que el favor, la intriga, y la inmoralidad, al mismo tiempo que han tenido cerrada la puerta, de veinte anos a' esta parte, para toda clase de empleos, a' los sugetos de luces, patriotismo, y verdadero merito, la han franqueado a' una porción de personas, depravadas, inmorales, o'ineptas quando menos."
- ↑ Vide Observations of Junta of Caracas, on the above Circular, dated 20th May, 1810.
