That autonomy flourished best under a colonial regime, he argues; the city's incorporation into the nation destroyed it.

His emphasis on the success of the late colonial regime accords ill with his admission that reforms 'failed to produce many effects'.

It however was not as cooperative in imposing the colonial regime as federal authorities would have liked.

Thus, quite a few writers received no encouragement from colonial publishers who were perhaps afraid of turning out radical writers critical of the colonial regime.

In effect, the letter was an open challenge to the very foundation of the colonial regime, and amounted to a declaration of war against it.