MEXICO AND THE UNITED STATES.
[TO THE EDITOR or T NZ "Brseraroa.'9 SIB,—Your article in the issue of April 22 nd on the present position of affairs in Mexico has reminded me of a " Report " made by the Conde de Aranda to King Charles the Third of Spain in the year 1783. This " Dictamen Reservado," as the writer called it, remained a private document until the year 1835, when it was published in Madrid ; it is in the form of a letter to the King, and deals with the results which, in the opinion of the author, the independence of the British Colonies in North America was bound to have on the Colonial Empire of Spain in the New World. The writer regrets the fact that his country and France had morally and materially helped the English colonists, and uses strangely prophetic words to warn his Sovereign of future events. The " Dic- ta.men" is too long to quote in a letter to the Spectator, but the portions of it which I have translated hereunder may, perhaps, interest your readers :- " This Federative Republic has been born because two powerfn nations, as France and Spain are, have formed and given it lit assisting with their forces to make it independent : to-morrow it will be a giant, according as its constitution becomes consolidated ; and later it will be a Colossus, irresistible in those regions. Then the benefits it has received from both Powers will be forgotten, and it will not have a thought beyond its own aggrandisement. The liberty- of religion, the facility of establishing people in im- mense territories, and the advantages which a new government offers will call labourers and artisans from all nations, because man goes where he thinks he can improve his lot, and within a few years we will see, to our great sorrow, the Colossus raised which I have indicated. We must believe that its first glances will be directed to the entire possession of the Floridas, in order to dominate the Gulf of Mexico. This step taken, not alone will it interrupt our commerce with the Kingdom of Mexico whenever it wishes to do so, but it will aspire to the conquest of that vast empire which we will not be able to defend from Europe against a formidable power established on that continent and bordering on said country. These, Sefior, are not base fears, but a true pre- diction of what must infallibly happen within a few years if there is not sooner a greater upheaval in the Americas."
These words are, in my opinion, remarkable, and although the upheaval spoken of by the Conde de Aranda did take place, it only, perhaps, postponed the taking possession of the "vast empire of Mexico " by the United States.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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