Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/409

Rh their offspring and near connections were to be, as a matter of policy, with members of the royal family of Spain, and vice versa. Treaties of reciprocity for commerce, and of offence and defence, were to be made between the European and American sovereignties, and forever maintained in force. France, the family ally, was to be specially favored in her manufactures. Relations of any kind with the British were not to be tolerated. The aggrandizement of the new republic, or of any other powder that might establish itself in America, was also to be averted.

The three kingdoms thus proposed to be erected were Mexico, Peru, and Costa Firme. Cuba, Porto Rico, and one or two more islands were to be retained to serve as entrepôts to foster the national trade. Every argument that could be adduced in favor of this project was brought forth in a memoir, and among them the following: The large extent of the possessions and their great distance from the mother country rendered it difficult for the supreme government to protect them against foreign hostilities, or to obtain correct views on affairs, so as to adopt the wisest and most efficacious measures for the benefit of the country, to check abuses, and administer justice. So far as the people of America were concerned the benefits were obvious, chief among which was the facility with which they might resort to the sovereign authority. All the difficulties enumerated of course tended, as was affirmed, to breed discontent among the crown's American vassals.

We have the assurance that Aranda's scheme was seriously considered by the king in council, and that it would have been resolved in the affirmative, had there been in those countries a larger number of pure white people and mestizos able to withstand the possible attempts at subjugation by the other more numerous races. This fear of danger was attributed to Cárlos himself, in whose lips were placed words suggestive that in the event of the subversion of