Such graceful accuracy, the resources which the
New World affords for the study of geology and natural philosophy
in general have been long since acknowledged. Happy the traveller
who may cherish the hope that he has availed himself of the
advantages of his position, and that he has added some new facts to
the mass of those previously acquired!
Since I left America, one of those great revolutions, which at
certain periods agitate the human race, has broken out in the
Spanish colonies, and seems to prepare new destinies for a
population of fourteen millions of inhabitants, spreading from the
southern to the northern hemisphere, from the shores of the Rio de
la Plata and Chile to the remotest part of Mexico. Deep
resentments, excited by colonial legislation, and fostered by
mistrustful policy, have stained with blood regions which had
enjoyed, for the space of nearly three centuries, what I will not
call happiness but uninterrupted peace. At Quito several of the
most virtuous and enlightened citizens have perished, victims of
devotion to their country. While I am giving the description of
regions, the remembrance of which is so dear to me, I continually
light on places which recall to my mind the loss of a friend.
When we reflect on the great political agitations of the New World,
we observe that the Spanish Americans are by no means in so
favourable a position as the inhabitants of the United States; the
latter having been prepared for independence by the long enjoyment
of constitutional liberty.
