date

[clxii. 240] 1821 Jany 6 Rid
[clxii. 240]

1821 Jany 6

Rid Yourselves

'. Creoles willing

Preliminary Distinctions

What I do not say is that man for man their interests are less an object of regard to me than yours are: I know no reason why they should be: what I do say is - that theirs are not the interests my regard for which gave occasion to the liberty I am thus taking with you.

The connection which their interest has with yours is simply this - namely that in proportion to any aversion on their part to the union will be on your part the difficulty of maintaining it, and the expence of the endeavouring to maintain it.

2. Another distinction which it is necessary for me to thus early to point out to you is a /the/ distinction between two other sets of interests: the two sets of interests into which the aggregate interest of you the people of Spain is divided: I mean the interests of the subject many, and those of the ruling or otherwise influential few. Special connection apart, the degree of my regard is I will confess, determined by the numeration table: if any one will furnish me with a fitter standard, I will be thankful for it.

Now then /This promised/ what I am as well assured of as I am of my existence is that to the subject many - to the vast majority of you the union in question - all union with Ultramaria under the same government - and all endeavours at it would be productive of net mischief in vast quantity

What I am at the same time sensible of is - /that to the interests of/ that to a considerable /no inconsiderable/ portion of the ruling few not only the maintenance of the union, but every endeavour however fruitless towards the maintenance of it would indeed be beneficial: but at the same time that this benefit would neither so extensive nor so net as it is natural it should appear to be: for in addition to this their seperate interest these distinguished few possess their part in the universal interest: in many instances what may happen is that what a man gains in respect of his seperate interest is more than outweighed by what he loses in respect of his share in the universal interest: but as of the two it is always the particular interest that is most distinctly perceived by him hence it is that where that interest which in the mans possession in common with the many is of the two the most valuable to him - it will often in his eyes be the less valuable, and no case of competition be accordingly sacrificed to that which he possesses in common with the many.
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  • Title: [[clxii. 229] 1821 Jany 10]
    Description: [clxii. 229]

    1821 Jany 10

    Rid Youselves

    '. Prelimy. distinctions

    Now for the use of these distinctions.

    Among /of the class of/ the ruling few among you in Spain, there are some whose interest it would all along be, that the dominion of that class over Ultramaria should be compleated and retained. This I admitt. By that dominion /state of things/ their share in the universal interest would indeed be damaged /lessened in value/: but those as share in the particular interest of their clsass would be improved be encreasd in value: now in the case of some of them, and in the eyes of still more of them what they suffered in respect of their share in the universal interest would be more than made up for by what they enjoyed /acquired/ in respect of their share in the particular interest.

    By /From/ the expenditure produced by the maintenance of the dominion taxes suppose are caused to the amount of a fifth part of every mans income; by /from/ the same cause loss to a man who for his subsistence has 5000 reals a year and no more, 1000 reals: From the same source this man derives an office (suppose) emolument thereof 20,000 reals. His one fifth of 20,000 is four thousand: this with the 1,000 upon his original income makes 5000. Profit by the dominion 20,000 deduct loss by it, 5000: remains net profit, 15,000. Result his share in the particular interest of the ruling few is worth three times as much as that share in the universal interest which is common to him with the subject many.

    By /From/ this union with Ultramaria, you Spaniards would the vast majority of you be sufferers; all you Ultramarians would be so too: sufferers they would be in a still greater degree. In this address their suffering does /is/not as such taken into consideration: taken into account. But proportioned to their suffering will sooner or later to a greater or less extent be their repugnance: and proportioned to their repugnance will sooner or later be the burthen imposed upon you in the course of the exertions made for surmounting that repugnance.
  • Title: [[clxii. 227] 1821 Jany. 6 Rid]
    Description: [clxii. 227]

    1821 Jany. 6

    Rid Yourselves

    '. Preliminary distinctions

    But for these distinctions I should at every turn be asserting what to your knowledge could not be true, and what anybody could show not to be true.

    '. Preliminary distinctions and explanations - State of interests with reference to this question.

    So much for the past: I come now to the present and the future.

    People of Spain! Under the same set of rulers union between your Ultramarian kinsmen and you would to you be the most oppressive and intolerable of all burthens: such is my opinion: rid yourselves of it as soon as possible: such is my advice.

    Without reserve - without disguise - the grounds of that opinion shall now be laid before you: the judgement will be yours.

    Forgive me - but at the very outset I must beg your attention to those essential distinctions in so far as any one of them remains unheeded, perceptions will remain confused, judgement erroneous and delusive. But for these distinctions, no clear result would be found obtainable: falsehood in some proportion or other, would be mixt up, and be seen to be so in every truth I could advance.

    1. Distinction the first - distinction between your interests the interests of you the inhabitants of Spain - of the peninsula as you call it considered in the aggregate on the one part and the interests of the inhabitants on those countries that without being included in Spain were deputed in the person[?], exercise dominion over Spain of Ultramaria as you call those countries, taken in the aggregate on the other part of which Ultramaria that part of America called Spanish America forms by far the principal part.

    2. Distinction the second - In Spain itself - in the peninsula - distinction in the first place between the universal interest, and the two particular interests of which taken in the aggregate it is confused - the distinction between the interests of the rulers and otherwise influential few on the one hand, and the interests of the subject many on the other. This distinction of course applies to Ultramaria as well as to Spain itself.
  • Title: [[clxii. 244] 1821 Jany. 7 Rid]
    Description: [clxii. 244]

    1821 Jany. 7

    Rid Yourselves

    Such then is the supposition within a determinate time say six months - you will have heard that in every province Ultramaria has declared her submission to the authority of the /your/ King acting in conjunction with the Cortes according to the terms of the Constitutional Code. See /I say/ in this case whether at the end of the period, thus encreased to two years and a half, even see on the supposition there can be any reasonable expectation of net profit in a pecuniary shape to you in Spain fore the connection can have place.

    By Net profit is meant a balance on the side of receipt after all disbursements made.

    I will in the first place endeavour to bring to view /shew/ not indeed the quantum for that is impossible, but in large masses the items that will here be stood on the side of disbursements during this period. I mean these disbursements which will have been produced by the Union, and would not have been produced but for the Union, that is by the contemplation and expectation of it.

    In the /my/ Introduction - I have done all that in my situation could be done towards, fixing your conception on this land by means of figures +

    + Introd. ' 6. To your Rulers you must apply for the necessary corections. Would you wish to see it correct? Your application must be to your Rulers.