George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 10

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Chapter 27:

Rockingham's ministry Assents to American independence.

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1782.

the hatred of America as a self-existent state

Chap. XXVII.} 1782.

became every day more intense in Spain from the desperate weakness of her authority in her transatlantic possessions. Her rule was dreaded in them all; and, as even her allies confessed, with good reason. The seeds of rebellion were already sown in the vice-royalties of Buenos Ayres and Peru; and a union of Creoles and Indians might prove at any moment fatal to metropolitan dominion. French statesmen were of opinion that England, by emancipating Spanish America, might indemnify itself for all loss from the independence of a part of its own colonial empire; and they foresaw in such a revolution the greatest benefit to the commerce of their own country. Immense naval preparations had been made by the Bourbons for the conquest of Jamaica, but now from the fear of spreading the love of change Florida Blanca suppressed every wish to