[clxii. 231]

1821 Jany. 10

Rid Yourselves

'. Prelimy. distinctions

But of the sinister profit there derivable it is the interest of each class that of the ruling few in Spain on the one part, that of the ruling few in Ultramaria on the other, that its own share be a large, consequently that of its partner but competitor as small as possible. The greater the share possessed or expected out of the profit by the ruling few in Spain, the more strenuous /greater/ will be their exertions to retain or acquire it. But the greater their share the less the share of those of the same class /ruling few/ in Ultramaria, and thence the greater the probability that the disposition to submission produced on their part by their share in the sinister interest of their class will be surmounted by their share in the universal interest of Ultramaria, with the addition of that created by the irritation produced by the competition of those of the same class in the distant country, and the injustice and oppression which in their eyes will be seen attached to it.

Here there is a sinister profit which in virtue of the opposition between interest and interest will be a bone of contention between the ruling few in one country and the ruling few in the other. Whether it be in the nature of the case /things/ that on this subject any cordial agreement should have place you will have to judge.

If in the eyes of the ruling few in Ultramaria their share in the profit in the expenditure of Government in Ultramaria is greater than their share in the burthen produced by that expenditure, they may, by this community of sinister interest with the ruling few in Spain, be reasonably expected to join with them in the maintenance of that dominion in opposition to and to the sacrifice of the universal interest in both countries - in the opposite case, not.