Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/764

744 though they were, and that of all grades, from hidalgo to artisan, sailor, and even criminal, and drawn chiefly from Castile, Estremadura, and Andalusia. In later times the in-wanderers came principally from Vizcaya, Catalonia, Galicia, and the Santander mountains; they were young, of poor families, frugal and industrious, superior in character even to the average Spaniard, and vastly surpassing in energy and steadiness the spoiled creoles. Business men recognized their value and employed them; they were prudent also, watched for opportunity, and soon embarked in enterprises on their own account, often marrying daughters of their principals. They became owners of plantations and mines, and the holders of municipal offices, forming a sort of confederacy with the other Spaniards, the higher officials and judges, who numbered a proportion of men both educated and of good families. Although the mass of officials and traders were inferior to the prosperous creoles in requirements and manners, and therefore objects of contempt, yet a ready adaptability soon enabled them to make amends; and since they were as a rule sure to advance in wealth and position, the women of the soil looked upon them with favor, thus adding jealousy to the many enmities entertained by creoles against the new-comers. Aware of their superior advantages, the latter returned the feeling in the form of contempt, which cut deeper than overt acts. The Spaniard soon became himself a creole, however, for he begat children against whom the exasperated father might exclaim, "You are a creole and that accounts for it!

The influx of energetic men from the mother country could not under such circumstances have been otherwise than desirable, except in the case of officials, whose positions ought to have been shared more liberally with the children of the soil, as a matter of justice. Yet the government gave no impulse to