Page:Vol 2 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/404

384 the king for weapons of war, but also for permission to retain and purchase arms which were on the point of being withdrawn by adventurers from Pert. This apparent weakness of the Spaniards in New Spain was regarded by the negro population as offering a favorable opportunity to effect their destruction, and, with the coöperation of the natives, liberate the country from the Spanish yoke.

The vindictive character and hardihood of the African race had at an early day attracted the attention of the government to the danger to which the Indies were exposed by the importation of negro slaves. In proportion to the population their numbers were becoming alarming, and although their number in New Spain was relatively insignificant compared with that of the indigenes, it was such as to hold out to them, turbulent as they were and refractory by nature, a prospect of gaining their freedom. They were further emboldened by the knowledge which they obtained of the troubles that embarrassed the king, and by the arrival of vessels from Spain only at long intervals.

Their intercourse with the Indians, and the mutual