For purposes of administration, these royal possessions were divided, from very early days, into two great kingdoms or viceroyalties, known respectively as New Spain and Peru. The viceroyalty of New Spain included not only Mexico, but also the rest of the mainland north of the Isthmus of Panamá, part of the South American coast, the West Indies, and even the far-off Philippines.

The viceroyalties in turn were subdivided into districts, known as audiencias, and these for their part into lesser districts, called gobiernos or provinces. Mexico proper comprised two of the four audiencias into which New Spain was divided. These were known to the Spaniards as Mexico and Nueva Galicia.

Council of the Indies: At the head of the whole colonial system, next of course to the sovereign, and acting as his direct agent, stood a body called the Council of the Indies. This at first consisted of eight members, but the number was afterwards increased. Appointment to the Council carried with it a large salary, high honor, great responsibility, and permanent residence. at the royal court. Generally speaking, only those who had seen actual service in the Americas or in the Philippines were appointed to this body.

The functions of the Council were of a threefold characterto enact all laws for the government of the colonies; to serve as a final court of appeal for grave judicial cases; and to advise the king on all important colonial questions. In this last capacity, the body also exercised the highly important function of nominating all civil and ecclesiastical officials for the colonies.

Casa de Contratación: Only secondary in position and authority to the Council of the Indies, was the Casa de Contratación, or House of Trade. This body, which sat at Seville until 1717, and after that at Cadíz, has been described as a "board of trade, a commercial court, and a clearing house for the American traffic." Its functions were both administrative and judicial. Acting in the former capacity it granted licenses, equipped and inspected vessels, instructed captains as to loading and sailing, kept close watch over persons going to or coming from the colonies, accounted for all goods, revenues and precious metals connected with colonial trade, and enforced all the stringent and detailed provisions of the crown's commercial regulations.

In its judicial capacity, the Casa had oversight of all cases arising from theft or other crimes committed on the voyage to or from the Indies; of issues involving the royal revenue; of evasions of emigration laws or trade regulations. In brief, a violation of any of the commercial laws of the colonies might be heard before the Casa. With its findings and decisions, the ordinary courts of Spain were forbidden to interfere.

Institutions in the Colonies: At the head of the royal officials resident in Mexico stood the Viceroy. In authority and rank, he was literally what his title signified-the King's substitute. His functions were of the greatest variety and importance and included such vital issues as the defense of the kingdom and the oversight of the royal revenues. His court "was formed upon the model of that of Madrid, with horse and foot guards, a household regularly established, numerous attendants, and ensigns of command, displaying such magnificence as hardly retained the appearance of delegated authority." The viceroy's term, nominally for three years, was frequently lengthened by the King so that during the 300 years of Spanish supremacy 62 viceroys ruled over Mexico.

The Audiencia: Only slightly lower than the viceroy, and in some functions even his superior, stood the Audiencia. This body acted both as a council of state and as the supreme court within the colonies. To it appeals might be made, even over the viceroy's head. One of its most important functions was the administration of government in the interval between the death or departure of one viceroy and the coming of his successor. The first audiencia was established at Mexico City in 1528. Twenty years later, a second audiencia was set up in Nueva Galicia, with its seat, after 1550, at Guadalajara.

The Residencia: In order to place a check upon the rule of colonial officials and to hold them responsible for any abuse of power, an inquest was held at the end of their term of office by special commissioners appointed by the crown. Such an investigation was called a Residencia. Information touching the official's misconduct was invited from every quarter, and the reports and evidence thus received were forwarded to the Council of the Indies. Theoretically, such an arrangement should have kept the colonial government free from corruption and abuse, but the effectiveness of the residencia was too often destroyed by the use of bribes or the influence of the guilty officials at the royal court.

Provincial and Local Government: While the viceroy and audiencia represented the supreme political power in Mexico, there were many subordinate branches of government, some of which, in certain particulars, might even claim direct responsibility only to the crown. The country, as already indicated, was divided into two audiencia districts. These, in turn, were made up of numerous gobiernos or provinces, very similar in boundaries to the modern Mexican states. Each province was under control of a governor and captain general. To meet a special need, for something like the first hundred years of Spanish rule, both the conquest and government of the frontier provinces,

however, were entrusted to outstanding leaders known as Adelantados. These "proprietary conquerors," as they have been called, were "men of means, obligated to bear most of the expense of conquering and peopling the wilderness, in return for wide powers, extravagant titles, and extensive economic privileges."

Within the provinces were smaller political units known as corregimientos, each under the jurisdiction of an alcalde, appointed by the audiencia. There were also organized Indian communities, known as partidos, and incorporated towns. Each of the latter had its coat-of-arms from the king and conducted its government by means of a cabildo, or municipal council, whose members, the regidores, were almost the only elective officials in New Spain. Indeed, the only approach to popular sovereignty in Mexico during the Spanish régime, was this faint measure of local administration possessed by the towns. Elsewhere, there was not the slightest opportunity for the people to learn or practice the extremely difficult art of self-government. Everywhere the offices were bought and sold in keeping with the custom common in Spain.

Spain's Economic Policy: The Spanish policy of absolutism in government likewise found its counterpart in complete control of the economic life of the colonies by the crown. The Mercantile System, from which this practice sprang, was then in universal favor with European statesmen; but in the case of the Spanish colonies, the Mercantile idea was given a practical effectiveness seldom witnessed in the colonies of other nations. As its primary object was to enrich and strengthen the mother country, the welfare of the colonies was purely a secondary consideration.

One essential of Spanish success in enforcing this system was a rigid monopoly of colonial trade and strict exclusion of foreigners from the American provinces. In this, the aim was not merely to exercise an absolute control over colonial commerce, but also to keep a knowledge of the mineral wealth and military weakness of the Spanish possessions from dangerous European rivals. Severe penalties were consequently provided for violations of the laws against intercourse with foreigners. And if the latter, either through accident or design, entered Mexican waters they were liable to suffer execution or a living death at enforced labor in the mines.

In order to render the royal control of commerce more effective, and to protect trade so far as possible from the disastrous raids of English, French and Dutch privateers, vessels bound to or from the colonies were required to sail under convoy in annual or semi-annual fleets. Until 1720, Seville was the only city in Spain from which this commerce might be carried on; while Vera

Cruz was the only port north of Panamá at which the fleets were authorized to touch. On the Pacific, the harbor of Acapulco witnessed the yearly arrival (when the vessel was not wrecked or captured by roving freebooters) of a richly laden galleon from Manila, carrying the stuffs of China and the East, and normally manned by a half dead, scurvy stricken crew. The goods that reached Mexico in this "Manila galleon" were mostly transported overland to Vera Cruz for re-shipment to Spain.

The effect of Spain's economic policy upon Mexican development was most unfortunate. Her commercial restrictions made it possible for a few well entrenched houses to monopolize almost all the foreign trade of Mexico and to realize a normal profit of two or three hundred per cent. The common people, naturally enough under such conditions, could not enjoy the use of imported goods, but were restricted to the primitive articles of their own making. The market that Spain furnished for Mexican products, aside from gold and silver, was likewise so inadequate as to discourage any real development of agriculture or industry. As a by-product, the policy also encouraged smuggling and evasion of customs regulations on an enormous scale, and incidentally laid the foundation for much of the discontent. that afterwards flared out in revolution. The short-sightedness of the whole policy was well summed up by Humboldt, eminent geographer and statesman, when he said, "The supplying of a great kingdom was carried on like the provisioning of a blockaded fortress."

The Indian Policy of Spain: One of the most complex problems faced by Spain in Mexico after the conquest was that presented by the native inhabitants. In theory the Indians were regarded, not as foreigners, but as subjects of the crown, with many of the limitations and privileges of minors. But while one. Spanish king after another tried to throw around his distant wards the protection of royal favor, until the crown's Indian legislation has been styled "an impressive monument of benevolent intentions," the harsh oppression of Spanish conquerors and colonists, actually on the ground, woefully defeated the humane. measures of the sovereign at Madrid.

Indians taken in war or surrendered in lieu of tribute were first treated as slaves; but about 1530 this practice was forbidden by royal command. The common method of dealing with the natives was then through the encomiendo system. This system, brought over from the West Indies where the Spaniards began it in 1497, was based on the practice of partitioning out large areas of land to individual Spaniards and of allotting with the land the forced labor of such Indians as lived upon it. Theoretically, the encomenderos, or holders of such grants, were supposed to protect, civilize, and convert the Indians entrusted to

them. Actually, they so abused and exploited their charges that the system became one of the worst scandals of Spanish rule.

The need for labor on the haciendas, in sugar mills, in the construction of irrigation and drainage canals, in household service, for the erection of churches, dwellings, and public buildings, and especially in the mines, was very pressing. Lack of machinery and proper transportation facilities compelled the use of man power for almost every conceivable form of labor.

Nowhere was the demand for every kind of labor greater than in the mines. To supply this particular industry, the mita system developed along with the encomiendas. Under this system, whole Indian communities were transported from their established homes to distant mining centers and compelled to work in the mines themselves or in the reduction works. The labor was so extremely exhausting and dangerous that a current proverb ranked it as another form of hell.

Between the cruelty of the encomenderos and the appalling sacrifice of life in the mines, the native inhabitants of Mexico were almost exterminated in certain sections. In 1552, for instance, this letter was sent by one of the Spanish bishops to the Emperor: "I am in the country about Vera Cruz. In most of the towns nothing is remaining but the sites; where there were two thousand Indians, there have not remained more than forty inhabitants; and sometimes only four, six, seven, or eight. The town that has most, numbers only two hundred inhabitants."

In spite of the extreme cruelty and oppression of the average Spanish mine proprietor and encomendero, however, there were many, especially among the ecclesiastics and higher officials, who sought to alleviate the sufferings of the Indians and to improve. their condition. The most conspicuous of these was Bartolomé Las Casas, a one-time encomendero himself who, having turned priest, devoted the rest of his life to the cause of the oppressed natives. The two chief results of the reform movements instituted by Las Casas were the introduction of negro slaves to serve as a substitute for Indian labor, and the promulgation by the crown of the so-called New Laws. Under this royal code, issued in 1542, provision was made for the extinction of all encomiendas within a single generation. But vigorous opposition on the part of the holders of such grants prevented the enforcement of this feature of the law, and the system remained in effect until the close of the century. Even when it eventually died out, various forms of peonage sprang up to take its place.

While the encomienda system had in it little of good and an abundance of evil, the other features of the crown's Indian policy were more commendable. The objects of this policy were threefold-to reduce the nomadic Indians to village life; to suppress vice and heathen practices among them; and to give them training and discipline that should make them self-supporting.