Honourable Members of the Court,
There is mention of creating governors of small areas within Hispania, who may develop as they please their lands, with the consent of the Treasurer. This has arisen, it seems, due to a chronic lack of initiative on the part of the Stewards, understandable given their enormous task, but not acceptable.
In a Utopia, the Steward develops all the provinces of the empire as part of a grand plan to better the entire empire, not just Sicily, or Alentejo. If each area has its own caretaker, unity will falter, as how can the governor of Sicily know that both he and the governor of Tuscany wish to invest in trade depots. Then, both Sicily and Tuscany will have trade buildings, where in reality, only Sicily should have developed trade, Tuscany being more disposed to agriculture. Each area would become as a vassal to the Crown territories, working regradless of each other, just as often hindering as aiding one another.
The Steward was supposed to bind all Hispania towards a common goal, allowing each area to specialize. If Provence specializes in trade, increasing income by two ducats a month, to the behest of its farms, resulting in a food deficit, and the other regions, having enough food, do not increase their output, then Provence will be forced to despecialize, wasting its energies on ineffiecent ventures to support itself. If there were a Steward, he would increase trade infrastructure in Provence, and then, to feed the merchants, increase food production elsewhere.
An area is akin to a man. If that man is alone in the wilderness, the majority of his time will be spent crudely gaining the sustenance he requires to survive, there being no time to innovate. If, however, men band together, then those who can hunt, spend part of the day hunting, and those who forage, spend part of the day foraging, and by means of increased efficiency, they all have an increase is prosperity and time, which they can direct to innovation and the betterment of the group. If each area is kept under its own leadership, it will be as if it is a small nation, forced to labor to meet its needs, and nothing more. If Hispania has oversight, all the areas will come together to form a common civilization, and thus direct their energies towards innovation.
Thus, I believe small areas, each independent in their infrastructure, would be a detriment to Hispania. So what is to be done? We have seen from experience that being Steward of an inter-continental empire may be too much for one person, but that if each area were administered independently, the empire would be many small principalities protected by one arms, much like the Germans. Therefore, I believe that the Stewardship shall be split into three parts.
Under this plan, Alentejo, Asturias, Beiras, Castille, Leon, Lower Andalucia, Macaronesia, Toledo, and Upper Andalucia would be under the administration of the Steward of Iberia. Valencia, Aragon, Catalonia, Provence, and all of Italy would be under the administration of the Steward of the Mediterranean. All remaining land would be under the control of the Steward of Africa and Asia. I believe this way, each Steward has a large enough territory to join the energies of Hispania into harmony, without any Steward having to administer more than about 30 provinces. Each of the Stewards would serve on the Council.
I hope that you take this proposal into consideration, and remember that for Hispania to prosper, Hispania must work with itself.
Humbly,
Timur Shah