council managed the affairs of the inhabitants of America and
guarded their destinies in accordance with the theories of
enlightened despotism then prevailing in Europe. The Spanish
dominions were divided into viceroyalties and subdivided into
captaincies general, presidencies, and intendancies. Associated
with the high officials who ruled them were audiencias, or
boards, which were at once judicial and administrative. Below
these individuals and bodies were a host of lesser functionaries
who, like their superiors, held their posts by appointment. In
Brazil the governor general bore the title of viceroy and carried
on the administration assisted by provincial captains, supreme
courts, and local officers.

This control was by no means so autocratic as it might seem.
Portugal had too many interests elsewhere, and was too feeble
besides, to keep tight rein over a territory so vast and a
population so much inclined as the Brazilian to form itself into
provincial units, jealous of the central authority. Spain, on its
part, had always practised the good old Roman rule of "divide and
govern." Its policy was to hold the balance among officials,
civil and ecclesiastical, and inhabitants, white and colored. It
knew how strongly individualistic the Spaniard was and realized
the full force of the adage, "I obey, but I do not fulfill! "
Legislatures and other agencies of government directly
representative of the people did not exist in Spanish or
Portuguese America. The Spanish cabildo, or town council,
however, afforded an opportunity for the expression of the
popular will and often proved intractable. Its membership was
appointive, elective, hereditary, and even purchasable, but the
form did not affect the substance. The Spanish Americans had an