large plantations and rich mines. Between them and the castes lay an immense gulf. To be of the former was to be of the noble race; to be of the latter was to be branded; and eager became the strife among the progeny of caste admixtures to enroll themselves as whites, the courts being frequently petitioned so to declare them.[1] Such strife naturally led to many a severe discrimination against alliances that might imperil the color line, and the regard for this was significantly illustrated by the question which frequently could be heard during altercations; "Do you consider yourself whiter than I?"
Another gulf, less wide yet more dangerous to the nation, was formed by the government in granting the higher offices in state, army, and church almost exclusively to Spaniards born in Spain, a policy due partly to long established system, partly to the better opportunity of claimants near the throne for obtaining a hearing, but chiefly to jealousy of the more distant subjects whose occasional complaints supported by wealth and growing numbers often savored of disloyalty, and whose very right to the country with its offices, acquired by their efforts as conquerors and colonists, made them appear dangerous.[2]
The natural result of such injustice was a bitterness of feeling which manifested itself as early as the first decade of the conquest, when Cortés soldiers saw the best offices and the choicest grants bestowed on men who had done nothing toward acquiring the rich domains, and who showed themselves unworthy and
- ↑ This legal whitewashing was conveyed in the rather ambiguous term, 'que se tengan por blancos.' They may regard themselves as white.
- ↑ Frequent remonstrances were made, notably in the representation by the city council of Mexico in 1792, which elicited decrees favorable to the creoles, but these were either disregarded or overruled by the counsel of prejudiced Spanish dignitaries, like Archbishop Haro, who suggested that American-born subjects should be kept at a distance, in humbler positions, and not fostered in arrogance with lofty aspirations. The liberation of the United States was pointed to as a warning. According to Vetancurt, Derecho, 40, less than four per cent of the bishoprics in America had been tilled by creoles during the first century of Spanish rule; by the end of the eighteenth century their proportion had increased to fifteen per cent, but chiefly of inferior sees.
