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CHAPTER III.

Spanish colonial policy in Mexico — How Spain protected her home industries against colonial competition — Origin of the War of Independence — Portraits of the Spanish viceroys — The last auto-da-fe in Mexico — Portraits of distinguished Mexicans in the National Hall of Embassadors — Ingratitude of the republic — The American war of invasion and the spoliation of Mexico — Injustice of the war.

The Spanish rule over Mexico lasted for just three hundred years, or from 1521 to 1821; and, during the whole of this long period, the open and avowed policy of Spain was, to regard the country as an instrumentality for the promotion of her own interests and aggrandizement exclusively, and to utterly and contemptuously disregard the desires and interests of the Mexican people. The government or viceroyalty established by Spain, in Mexico, for the practical application of this policy, accordingly seems to have always regarded the attainment of three things or results as the object for which it was mainly constituted, and to have allowed nothing of sentiment or of humanitarian consideration to stand for one moment in the way of their rigorous prosecution and realization. These