Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Capitania-General Of Caracas
Has Been United To The Vice-Royalty Of New Grenada, From Which It Was
Only Separated Entirely In 1777.
This union, which will always be
indispensable for external safety, this centralization of powers in a
country six times larger than Spain, has been prompted by political
views.
The tranquil progress of the new government has justified the
wisdom of those views, and the Congress will find still fewer
obstacles in the execution of its beneficent projects for national
industry and civilization, in proportion as it can grant increased
liberty to the provinces, must render the people sensible to the
advantages of institutions which they have purchased at the price of
their blood. In every form of government, in republics as well as in
limited monarchies, improvements, to be salutary, must be progressive.
New Andalusia, Caracas, Cundinamarca, Popayan and Quito, are not
confederate states like Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland. Without
juntas, or provincial legislatures, all those countries are directly
subject to the congress and government of Columbia. In conformity with
the constitutional act, the intendants and governors of the
departments and provinces are nominated by the president of the
republic. It may be naturally supposed that such dependence has not
always been deemed favourable to the liberty if the communes, which
love to discuss their own local interests. The ancient kingdom of
Quito, for instance, is connected by the habits and language of its
mountainous inhabitants with Peru and New Grenada. If there were a
provincial junta, if the congress alone determined the taxes necessary
for the defence and general welfare of Columbia, the feeling of an
individual political existence would render the inhabitants less
interested in the choice of the spot which is the seat of the central
government.
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