The basic character of this work is legalistic; that is, Morazanni is primarily concerned with the legal expressions given to the initiation, formulation, and continuous growth of the intendancy system. After briefly considering the origins of the system in France and in Spain, she follows the method of examining the developing nature of the system as revealed by successive legal enactments. She does not attempt to handle all aspects of the system in one continuous exegesis, but instead uses the organizational device of function, breaking her study into divisions which are concerned with such things as the nature of the intendant’s job, the method of administration, the meaning of the superintendancy, the attributions of the intendant, and the responsibilities of the intendant.
The prologue does not exactly prepare the reader for a work of the nature described above. Instead it suggests that the author will concern herself with explaining why the system was applied differently in Spain and in the diverse parts of the Empire. She asserts that this is a necessary and realistic task if one is to understand why the system was not as consistent and monolithic as seems generally to have been assumed. However, she explicitly does not concern herself with analyses or descriptions of these several areas, or even of the one— Venezuela—which seems to be her principal focus. As a consequence, the reader feels that he is being told only part of a story or is being given only half of an equation.
This is not meant to suggest that the work lacks merit. Most notably it represents a lengthy and painstaking job of compiling, digesting, assorting, and presenting an impressively vast amount of documentary material, overwhelmingly legal in nature, which, when put together, describes the intendancy system in a dynamic, not a static situation. The work has clearly required great patience and dedication.
The result is an institutional study which commends itself to any student of the Spanish Empire. Its particular use will lie in its utility as a reference for virtually all legislation bearing on the intendancy system. This is especially true when one considers that, of the nearly 600 pages in the book, only 221 are used for prologue, introduction, and text. Most of the remaining hundreds of pages consist of a documentary appendix, made up principally of royal cédulas and instructions of clear importance in the evolution of the system, extending in time from 1689 to 1812. Virtually every colonialist will find this work of value.
