Taken as a whole, this collection of three previously published articles is as much a celebration as it is an anthology of careful scholarship. It honors more than 20 years of archival work by Mario Briceño Perozo, the noted Venezuelan archivist and historian, and brings together, in the first volume of a projected trilogy, loosely related essays by Briceño that first appeared in the early 1960s.
Briceño’s choices here elegize the colonial past and regard it as inspiration for the future. Commemorating the dedication of colonial bureaucrats, the author presents case studies of exemplary eighteenth-century public service. Extolling the educational mission of history, Briceño trusts that the reappearance of his work will invigorate “the national conscience, the roots of which are in the institutional past” (p. 14), and reclaim for Venezuelans the utilitarian honor of the late colonial and independence periods.
The first article of the book, “El Contador Limonta,” recounts the career of José Antonio de Limonta, a humble and little known functionary who came to [Venezuela] to labor loyally for his king” (p. 20). His skills widely recognized, Limonta rose from protector de indios and promotor fiscal de la Real Hacienda of Caracas in 1782 to intendente honorario de provincia 28 years later. Briceño salutes Limonta’s achievements in office with a breakdown of his fiscal policy as reflected in the Libro de la razón general de la Real Hacienda del Departamento de Caracas” of 1805-10.
The second article, “Las causas de infidencia,” is the weakest of the three. It devotes nearly one-half of its text to an overview of 19 cases brought against alleged rebels, including Simón Bolívar, between 1812 and 1820. Contextual material, however, is weakened by contradictions. On the one hand, Briceño describes the “revolutionary impulse” as the reaction of a people “tired of living under despotism” and who yearn for “the Republic and dignity” (p. 160). On the other, he posits that colonial jurisprudence has left a “permanent example for those who administer justice” and believe in equality before the law (p. 193).
The final article, “Magisterio y ejemplo de un vasco del siglo XVIII,” examines the difficulty of local implementation of anticontraband policy in the 1710s and 1720s. Although Briceño takes more than 40 pages to get to the Basque in the title, Pedro José de Olavarriaga, this chapter well illustrates the networks and political ramifications of illegal trade in the Spanish colonies.
Each essay is amply documented and followed by an appendix of primary sources. Cumulative onomastic and geographical indexes facilitate access to specifics in the text. The book contains much useful information on eighteenth-century Venezuelan bureaucratic politics; it also exhibits Briceño’s traditional historical method and purpose.
